Pregant transman has baby on Sunday

Carolynn · Post by **Carolynn** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 5:50 pm

'Pregnant man' gives birth to daughter

Thomas Beatie reportedly had a baby girl Sunday at an Oregon hospital

MSNBC contributors (updated 1 hour, 58 minutes ago)

Thomas Beatie, the transgendered man who rose to national attention when he became pregnant, gave birth June 29 to a girl, People magazine and ABC News are reporting. He and his daughter are doing well, he told People.

Beatie grew up in Hawaii as a girl but later legally changed to a male identity, took hormone shots and had his breasts surgically removed, but kept his female reproductive organs.

His wife Nancy, 46, was unable to bear children since she'd had a hysterectomy. Beatie became pregnant using donor sperm and artificial insemination.

“I opted not to do anything with my reproductive organs because I wanted to have a child one day,” he told Oprah Winfrey during an April interview. Nancy said she inseminated him with a syringe using sperm purchased from a bank.

A spokesperson from St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, Ore., where Beatie reportedly gave birth said she could "neither confirm nor deny the presence of that patient at our facility."

Beatie told People that despite published reports, the baby was not born via Caesarean section.

The couple live in Bend, Ore., and Nancy has two adult children.
Nancy told Winfrey the couple's roles will not change after the baby is born. “He’s going to be the father and I’m going to be the mother,” she said. Their marriage is legal and he is recognized under state law as a man.

The couple runs a small business in Bend and has some savings, Nancy said. In addition, Beatie is working on a book about his childhood, his mother’s suicide and his life growing in Hawaii where, as a girl, he was a teen beauty pageant contestant and earned a martial arts black belt.

ChristineK · Post by **ChristineK** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:10 pm

Cheers to them. I wish this family the best. Now everything can calm down and these people can get back to there life.

Absaroka · Post by **Absaroka** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:56 pm

I hope the press will leave them alone now.

Absaroka

Carolynn · Post by **Carolynn** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 6:03 pm

Well, it wasn't exactly the press that was outing their choice. They, in particular Thomas, initiated the publicity and began using the publicity to talk about the book he is writing about their (his) experiences. So don't blame the press this time for something he wanted.

Love, Carolynn

Kandis · Post by **Kandis** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:29 am

In all honesty, this is NOTHING technically newsworthy. All He did was stop taking his testosterone and managed to get pregnant. It's not as if this were someone that has had complete SRS and managed to get pregnant. I am sorry ladies, I just do NOT find this to be "newsworthy".

Carolynn · Post by **Carolynn** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:24 pm

Hi Kandis
I think aside from being newsworthy or not, Beatie's very public decision to cary a child after becoming legally male is a contribution to the confusion over gender and being a transsexual male. Irreversible surgery that removes the individual's ability to behave as a member of the gender he/she was born is usually proof to society at large that the person is serious, even while they tend to think "NO Way" in relation to themselves.

Beatie could not become legally male and retain his reproductive organs if he was under the care of a therapist following the WPATH standards of care. Women have their breasts removed often due to medical reasons, but do not seek a legal gender change. Beatie went this route and started taking testosterone. Does this medical procedure, which does not require a letter from a therapitst, and taking testosterone make a person male, allowing a transition from female to male? Don't forget, in the "normal" view of our society the males are the daddy, not the mommy. Here is a person who says he feels he is a male and got his legal paperwork changed, but unlike others, did not really make his body congruent with his stated/claimed gender, and has carried to term and given birth to a child, a female act on his part. And he and his wife have stated they would like another. Taking testosterone does not make a F2M sterile or unable to concieve if the organs remain in place, unlike the effect of estrogen on a M2F. Generally, after a year, a M2F is chemically castrated, again different from Beatie as a M2F.

The F2Ms I know are at least as eager to make their bodies congruent with their mental gender as is a M2F. In fact, in most states, a M2F cannot get the F placed on legal documents until there is proof in the form of a surgeons letter, nor can a F2M have the doc's changed unless there is similar evidence of irrevocable physical changes, usually breast removal and complete hysterectomy. As Beatie is, he could become again legally female just with a shift of paperwork, and with breast implants, he could be she again. Hardly an irrevocable choice.

Beatie did not follow the WPATH standards of care, and in the minds of many he flaunted the fact that he didn't and could still conceive and carry a kid, apparently due to the law being different in Hawaii where he transitioned. And that is in part what the interest is about. Also, by this act it could be argued the marriage between he and Nancy is null and void in any state that doesn't permit same sex marriages. So there are potential legal implications as well.

He did other F2Ms absolutely no favor by being so public about what should have been a decision between he and his wife alone. Other F2Ms need to be accepted by cisgendered males in the same way that M2Fs need to be affirmed in their female gender role. People have derided F2Ms who are in my support group over this and one had to quit his job over the harassment and lack of support by management. And many F2Ms on TS forums bitterly claim this act shows Beatie is gender queer or a gender bender rather than a "serious" TS.

So I think you could say it does have its implications for a lot of people, and is newsworthy on that fact alone.

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Kandis · Post by **Kandis** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 2:26 pm

See, that's the issue I personally have with it. I know a number of F2M's and they are not happy about this one. They see it as a slap in the face to the rest of them because this person claims to be a male, and yet still has female reproductive organs. While I agree that a person can be a "non-operative" TS, they identify as such in MANY cases.. in this particular case, this is a woman who has had their breasts removed and that's it. (other than getting legal document).

The thing is, I could get a legal document that says I am female, but that does not make it so.. genetically/physically I am still male (and will always remain as such).

Post by **DonnaT** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:27 pm

http://www.people.com/people/article/0, ... pheadlines

Father and daughter pictured here.

Leeza · Post by **Leeza** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:09 pm

Thee have been a lot of things brought out in the news which should have been kept private, but were advanced to promote one thing or another. I agree this is one of them. If he was wanting to promote a book there are better ways to do it.

Leeza

Absaroka · Post by **Absaroka** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:56 pm

I like the idea that he is genderqueer rather than traditional FTM. I suppose that their are those who would consider this hair splitting but since gender, if it is to be accepted as a concept, needs to be defining, then the ability to carry and give birth to children ( at least theoretically) seems as good a place as any to define it.

Nothing bad about being genderqueer, it should be a perfectly good label, and since this person has chosen to label themselves we might as well.

Absaroka