Transgendered man claims he's pregnant with a girl

Thomas Beatie, a transgendered man who lives in Oregon, tells his story in a first-person account published in The Advocate -- a magazine for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people.

In the story, Beatie reveals that he is legally male and married to a woman named Nancy.

"Sterilization is not a requirement for sex reassignment, so I decided to have chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy but kept my reproductive rights," he says in the article.

Beatie said he stopped taking his testosterone injections to get pregnant. He claims to have already gone through an ectopic pregnancy.

Beatie, who got pregnant through home insemination, said it was a "life-threatening event" that resulted in the loss of all the embryos (he had triplets) and his right fallopian tube.

Now, his second time getting pregnant, Beatie says the pregnancy is free of complications.

"How does it feel to be a pregnant man? Incredible," he says in the article.

"Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am."

The estimated due date is July 3, 2008.

Comments are now closed for this story

JFJ
said

La plus ca change la plus ca reste la meme.

Kevin
said

The reason people feel the need to have their sex legally changed is because our society looks down upon people who act/live in the opposite manner of their sex. Is society would care if this 'women' dresses and lives as a masculin person, then there would be no need to change their sexual identity. As a man, can i go outside in a pink shirt and long skirt? Of course I can. But that would come at a price of being rediculed and even possibly having CAS involved because I have children.
As long as people care what sex you are, there will always be a need for transgenered people to legally change their sex.

Regina, Sask
said

only in America...

Chandra Pearl
said

Babies are a blessing. Congratulations to the expecting couple!

Gayle
said

A "good" parent does what's in the best interest of the child, not the best interest of the parent. The announcement to the media and the media circus to follow seems to be for the parent and not the child. I question if the reason he kept his female organs was all for the media attention. Look how much media attention quintuplets, etc. garner. This will surely garner the same. One look at struggling celebrities will tell us what the pressures of fame can do. If the child's best interest was of importance her, the media would not have been informed by the parents.

Jon Davidson, Barrie, Ontario.
said

He/She/It may now be revelling in a self contrived limelight of notoriety; but the question for me is: What about the health and welfare of this child? Sincerely, Jon Davidson .

Jason H.
said

A quick lesson:

Sex = Biological/Physical = 'what' we are
Gender = Social/Performative = 'who' we are

Congratulations to the lucky parents!

Sarah
said

Why didn't Nancy have the baby?

Tam
said

No matter where, how or why a child is a blessing, and should be celebrated! Quit judging, our world is already full of enough negativity for a child.

Plabo
said

Uhm! Who is the father of this child? Certainly not Nancy.

Doug
said

Who gets the maternity leave?

emv
said

I agree with another readers comment. You know its nothing to do with ethics rights and so on, but my concern would be since this person has gone public what will happen with this child as it grows... will it have a media circus to live with. For that reason some things should be kept private.

Socialism is killing us
said

What would Darwin say?

Sarah
said

Congratulations - I'm sure this child will have a very happy life and will be much more open-minded and accepting of others as a result of the family she/he will be born into.

AHS
said

Why is it that we feel the need to "tinker" with mother nature??

Dave M
said

I applaud his courage to have a child despite society's views. I can only imagine what he faced going through sexual reassignment, and having to deal with it all over again in order to have a child. This should give hope to a lot of people who don't fit society's "normal".

Unfortunately there are a lot of intolerant people who have never taken the time to think what transgendered people have to go through when facing gender reassignment, and why they do it.

Paula
said

Congrats to Thomas and his wife. A baby born to loving parents who want her is always a fanstastic thing.

Jake
said

She may choose to call herself a he. She may choose to have her body cosmetically altered to be a he. She may take hormones to change her body chemistry to resemble a he.

But she's pregnant. In the human species, only females can be pregnant (there are exceptions where a person has both sets of reproductive organs naturally, but this is NOT the case.

If she feels like a he, good on her. But she's pregnant, not he.

Dr. Abner Kravitz - NYC N.Y.
said

As a licensed medical doctor I can assure you that this "man" is in reality a female who simply had their breasts removed and are taking male hormones, This in turn could disturb the child's normal neo-natal growth in her body.

GB from East
said

Folks can debate all they want about the ethics of this birth.
All I will say is congratulations.

Natalie
said

David--

There have been many accounts of persons born wholly of one gender who've got chromosomes of the other.

mark -Montreal
said

I have nothing against a sex change. Everybody is different and some people are born with male organs and feel like a female in every other way and vice versa...but for the sake of the child pick a side

Steve
said

Who I feel sorry for is this unborn child. This child is going to be very confused right from day one.

jan
said

Definitely a woman. We can call ourselves whatever and make ourselves look like whoever....but we are who we are!

j
said

Perhaps for the benefit of their unborn child, they should have kept the pregnancy situation private instead of creating what's sure to be a media circus for this child's entire life.

pat
said

Gender is not as simple as Male and Female. There are people born with both sets of organs, neither sets of organs, one set that functions and a partial set that does not...In the stats you can be classified as Male, Female or Neuter (someone born with no sexual organs). I think its great that he is able to have a child!

Misconfuddled
said

Will the birth be Cesaerian? I am baffled...

ugh!
said

We are playing with medical and ethical questions that should be considered first.

David in Ontario
said

"Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am."
How can someone legally change their gender? This person (a "she", by the way, in spite of the cosmetic changes), still has female chromosomes, genes etc and apparently can still bear children.

Ken
said

How can you be considered a man if you have fallopian tubes

Amazed
said

Wow.

Adam
said

Good for him..err her

donna
said

He/She is pregnant,was it an immaculate conception?