Man who used to be a woman claims to be five months pregnant

An American married man, who used to be a woman before having gender reassignment surgery, has sparked shock and disbelief after claiming to be five months pregnant with a baby girl.

Thomas Beatie, 34, from Bend, Oregon, has posted a photograph and article on US gay web magazine, The Advocate, describing his joy to be a pregnant man.

Beatie was born Tracy Lagondino, a lesbian living in Hawaii, where he was a prominent gay rights activist, campaigning to stop hate crimes and give same-sex couples the right to adopt.

After falling in love with his wife, Nancy Roberts, he underwent the sex-change because Hawaiian law bars same-sex marriages.

The couple moved to the former logging town in Oregon and were keen to start a family after 10 years together but Nancy, 45, had a hysterectomy after health problems 20 years ago.

Beatie, who has had chest reconstruction surgery and testosterone therapy, but kept his female reproductive organs, is now legally a man. He stopped the hormone injections, allowing his periods to return.

He says he was fertilised using donor sperm and in a real-life echo of Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1994 film, Junior, plans to carry on living as a man while his baby bump grows.

"I will be my daughter's father and Nancy will be her mother," he said. "We will be a family." He added that it feels "incredible" to be a pregnant man: "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."

Beatie said the couple live a normal life running a screen printing business in the small US town and their desire to start a family was nothing out of the ordinary except for the fact that he is carrying the child. Their decision has been met with discrimination from many doctors.

"Doctors have discriminated against us, turning us away due to their religious beliefs," Beatie wrote in his article. "Healthcare professionals have refused to call me by a male pronoun or recognise Nancy as my wife. Receptionists have laughed at us. Friends and family have been unsupportive; most of Nancy's family doesn't even know I'm transgender. Wanting to have a biological child is neither a male nor female desire but a human desire."

A previous insemination ended in a life-threatening pregnancy with twins, requiring surgery and resulting in the loss of all Beatie's embryos and right fallopian tube. But doctors are now expecting Beatie to give birth to a healthy baby girl in July.

Some, however, have expressed concern that the baby could be exposed to the gender-changing hormones Beatie had been taking, damaging her for life. Furthermore, there are questions over the psychological impact that the child may suffer.

Stunned neighbours are questioning Beatie's revelation. One said he had seen Beatie a few days ago and did not look like the picture shown on The Advocate's website. "He was walking down the street with who I thought was his wife, Nancy, and I don't recall seeing a belly," said Ron Schlieper. "If that [picture was taken] a month ago, he would have been much bigger just a few days ago."

But another neighbour said the couple have been regularly attending fertility treatments in Portland.

Fox News has been investigating the story and says the biggest clue that this may be a hoax lies in the revelation that Beattie is under a confidentiality contract, which ends on April Fools' Day – April 1. Beattie says that he won't be speaking to the media until then.

However, the editor of the Los-Angeles based The Advocate said they have spoken to Beatie's doctors, who confirmed he is pregnant.

Copyright, the Guardian.co.uk, Thursday March 27 2008. It was last updated at 11:04 on March 27 2008.

 
TranslatorMar 27, 2008 @ 19:02