My first non-congratulating HN comment ever is to completely agree with you. Valuable insights come from all different kinds of stories. I'm glad this community recognizes that, and what a wonderful piece this is.

I actually read HN for the thug tears.

You'll be interested in my new startup idea then:

Thug tears—inna bottle! On the internet.

Yup. Got me too. Beautiful story. Lots of love there.

Neither my wife nor I were ready for any of our kids. I don't think you ever are. What these guys did was, among other things, down-right heroic. Not everyone would be open to changing their lives to such an extent by choice.

It's also a wonderful representation of real values found in the gay community.

This country will be far better off when we start to seriously pull away from fanatical religiously-motivated phobias, discrimination and down-right bigotry.

As an atheist I am actually seen as worst than a gay person by the religious extreme right. I bet you a pile of cash not one of those self-righteous a--holes would even think about adopting a non-white kid someone found in the subway.

Anyhow, enjoyed the story. Something socially positive to point to for the day. And, yes, I think it definitely belongs on HN's front page. Personally, when I only focus on tech I feel like I become less of a human being. This is one thing my kids taught me by force over the years.

Sorry to nitpick, but these two quotes stuck out at me:

> "I bet you a pile of cash not one of those self-righteous a--holes would even think about adopting a non-white kid someone found in the subway."

Having known several families from the religious right who have done exactly this, I would be happy to accept your pile of cash. There, now we can let my anecdotal evidence cancel out the hasty generalization.

> "This country will be far better off when we start to seriously pull away from fanatical religiously-motivated phobias, discrimination and down-right bigotry."

While this may be true, one should not take it as an excuse to indulge in non-religiously-motivated bigotry.

For instance, the book "The Blind Side" [1] is about a black kid who got adopted by an evangelical family.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Side:_Evolution_of_a_...

I am not generalizing other than to say that the hyper-religious right-wing white population has been known for being less than tolerant.

There are good people everywhere, religion has very little to do with being good and neither does sexual orientation.

If it were not for those fanatical religiously-motivated phobias that you decry, that kid would have been murdered before he was ever born.

"thug tears" <--- hilarious

Hah! You mock but this is a serious issue for those of us who can't have their reputations for non-mushiness compromised.

Yeah, my eyes watered a bit, too. Probably the the perfume of all the hotties hanging off me while I read the article.

This got me too. And there hasn't been much that moves me to a few tears in many years now. My two daughters born are about the only things. That's probably why, i'm a big softie for kids now.

But there are plenty of other places for that and although these stories are heart warming I come here for technical articles and discussion. These stories just clog that up and keep other more technical stories deeper in the site.

So do posts like this one.