Last week, after the most recent slew of very ugly things were said about LGBT families, we decided enough was enough. How many more times are we going write about politicians, religious leaders and just generally hateful people saying to things to delegitamize our families without our own and our community's input?

So we decided to launch Family Fridays. Every week, we'll be celebrating a family (and we come in all shapes and sizes) that you've shared with us. This will give us all a chance at the end of a long week of yelling at our screens and shaking our heads in disgust to come together for a nice long hug around one beautiful family.

Let's celebrate the beautiful and diverse kinds of families we have. In celebrating them, we're helping to reinforce what we already know: Our families are legitimate and beautiful.

To kick it off we've rounded up all the photos, and stories you've sent us so far in this amazing gallery. So get out your kleenex and be prepared to coo over some extremely cute babies and pets. Warning: Your co-workers may look at you like you're crazy. Don't say you haven't been warned.

If you'd like your own family featured on a Family Friday, please email us at gayvoices@huffingtonpost.com. Remember that family is what we make it, so if your family is you and the pack of LGBT folks who you'd go to the mats for, send them over. We want to see them, too.

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  • Michelle and her lovely bride

  • Joey's Family

    On their baby's first birthday! You can read more about he and him at his great blog <a href="http://blog.chron.com/heandhim/" target="_hplink">here</a> ()

  • The Derfler-Murphy Family

  • The Lake-Cannon Family

  • Marla & Allison's Family

    With their 1 1/2 year old twins! Austin, TX, Summer 2012

  • The Smith Family

    Congrats on their new baby girl!

  • The Taylor Family

  • The Ginsberg Family

  • The Holland-Girardot Family

  • The Weber-Munn Family

    And their dogchild, Francesca

  • The Spires Family

    "For thirty years: One gay Dad; one gay supportive Son."

  • The Lockwood Family

    "My fiance, me and our "adopted" kid. We have been able to give her a stable family life which she hasn't had for the majority of her 15 years. I always dare anyone to tell me that her being raised by lesbians is worse than the life she used to have. We look forward to having more children in the future."

  • The Price-O'Neil Family

  • THe Harris Family

    "This is our wedding on May 21 2010 our son was so excited to be the ring bearer"

  • Amber's Family

    My name is Amber. I am a mom, a graduate student, a fighter, an activist, a lover, a daughter, a friend and a lesbian ... I love my children (Will and Amelia) and they are everything to me!! I could not imagine a life without my children and would FIGHT TO THE DEATH should someone try to take them from me!!

  • Toni's Family

    "Here's my beautiful family"

  • Sabrina's Family

    "These are pics of Troy High School's Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) from last year's homecoming parade. This is my family."

  • Jenny's Family

  • Eric's Family

    Here's my family on my husband's 50th birthday

  • MIchele's Family

    Pure happiness: Our wedding. April 30, 2011 Washington, DC

  • Amy's Family

  • Glenn's Family

  • Kris' Family

  • Ned and Frank's Family

    This was sent in by their friend Anthony: " I'm sending one of my BFF's family, with his permission. Ned and Frank have been together for 16 years in a stable, committed relationship. They own a home and Frank owns a hair salon. A few years ago, the company Ned worked for dropped their domestic partnership benefits, leaving Frank with no health insurance. Shortly thereafter, a tumor was discovered in Frank's heart. Although Frank's doing well, he never fully recovered and can no longer work, which had a drastic impact on their finances. Ned then landed a new job at Group Health Cooperative, an incredibly pro-LGBT company, which he did to restore Frank's health insurance. Like many families, both gay and straight, this crisis served to bring Ned and Frank even closer together, further deepening their bonds of love and commitment. Ned and Frank are pictured with their foster daughter Rebecca, who they are in the process of adopting. Rebecca is their third foster child and has thrived as a wonderful addition to their family. In her birth home, Rebecca was physically and emotionally abused and was treated like Cinderella. In the years Rebecca's been Ned and Frank's daughter, she's become very well adjusted, respectful and a straight-A student amongst other things. Rebecca has completed their family and continually makes all of us very proud. Ned, Frank and Rebecca's story becomes even more important here in Washington State as our community works to beat back an attempt to take away marriage equality recently granted by our governor and legislature. As I told Ned when I asked if I could send his picture, their family IS the story of why marriage equality is so important! It's been an honor to watch my closest friends expand their family and create more love in the world and I look forward to many more years enjoying their incredible family."

  • Cee's Family

  • Sam's Family

    Collage of My Wife and I and our son (our dog) from our wedding!

  • Jackie's Family

    Holly, Jackie, and Charleigh Chapel Hill, NC

  • Jeff's Family

    My partner, Bong Hidalgo, of 11 1/2 years and our dog Boomer!

  • Nick's Family

  • David's Family

  • Cindy's Family

    This is my family. Heidi and I have been together for 10 years, Married in Vancouver, BC 8 years ago. Adopted our son AJ 8 years ago.

  • Larainne's Family

    "My wife and I try to be the best parents we can be to our four children ages 7-21. This photo was taken on our Wedding Day, April 14, 2012. We are grateful to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for allowing us to be legally married. We want this right for all of our community members in this country and around the world. Here's to more love! Larainne, Sheri (and family!)"

  • Rob's Family

    "Here's a pic of my/our very close gay extended family, together for Christmas 2011 in Orlando, FL."

  • Mary's Family

    "Me with my Family this past May at Disney World. "

  • Genevieve's Family (almost)

    "Me and my wife practicing with my best friend's baby"

  • Alysia's Family

  • Alison's Family

    "This is our 2011 Holiday Picture. As you can see we are the proud moms of three totally wonderful kids. Katie, 20, is a rising junior at East Carolina studying nursing. Seth, 19, is a rising sophomore at GA Tech majoring in electrical engineering. The youngest, Joshua, is a rising junior in high school. We are just a normal family with above-average kids."

  • Grant's Family

    "This picture is of my partner, Trevor, myself, my son Kris, his girlfriend Carly and their unborn baby. We LOVE our family =)"

  • Jincey's Birthday

  • Jonathan's Birthday

  • Tracy's Family

    This was taken on our wedding day. We drove 13 hours to Connecticut from Michigan to get married. My partner, Melissa, is in the blue, and I am the peach/salmon shirt. With out two dogs, Boudicca and Sarah.

  • Frank's Family

    We are The Lowes: Frank & Jeremy with son Briggs (Frank is @GayAtHomeDad on Twitter)

  • Christine's Family

    We are VERY proud of our gay little family :o)

  • Samantha's Family

    Here is a picture of me, my partner Vanessa and our son Jayden. Taken in Alma, Colorado.

  • Kerri's Family

    "2 Moms 2 beautiful babies :)"

  • My wife (brown hair) Jasmine and I (Heather) with our two beautiful dogkids, Hercules and Dutchess.

  • Katie's Family

    Here is a photo of my wife and I totally mortifying my then 11 year old daughter at our wedding in October of 2010. We are a family that loves to laugh and be together and are thankful we live in a state (NH) that recognizes us as a family legally--something we wish for all families across the country.

  • Ed's Family

    This is our new gay family!

  • The Newman- Schilling Family

    Kensington, CA

  • Never have I felt such love and adoration for one person. Never has anyone made my heart sing as much as she does. To say that feeling this way is wrong, is Wrong. Thank you for sharing our stories and our love. It took me 31 years to find her and I will never let her go :)

  • Patricia's Family

    With special guest, Dusty!