President George W. Bush said he is happy for Mary Cheney, the openly gay daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, who revealed earlier this month that she is pregnant.

"I think Mary is going to be a loving soul to her child. And I'm happy for her," Bush said in an interview publpished on People magazine's Web site. "The vice president took me aside and gave me the good news. He and his wife, Lynne, are very happy for Mary."

In speeches, and especially on the campaign trail, Bush often said that a child ideally should be raised in a family headed by a married father and mother.

White House press secretary Tony Snow said on Friday that Bush has not changed his mind.

"But he also believes that every human life is sacred and that every child who comes into this world deserves love," Snow said. "And he believes that Mary Cheney's child will, in fact, have loving parents."

Asked if Bush believes that children who are raised by gay and lesbian parents are at a disadvantage, Snow said, "He does not make comments on that and nor will I."

Mary Cheney, 37, and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, 45, are expecting a baby in late spring.

James Dobson, the founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, who campaigned hard for Republicans in the recent midterm elections, is among a number of conservatives critical of Mary Cheny's pregnancy.

"With all due respect to Cheney and her partner, Heather Poe, the majority of more than 30 years of social-science evidence indicates that children do best on every measure of well-being when raised by their married mother and father," he wrote in Time magazine recently. "That is not to say Cheney and Poe will not love their child. But love alone is not enough to guarantee healthy growth and development. The two most loving women in the world cannot provide a daddy for a little boy -- any more than the two most loving men can be complete role models for a little girl."