);

A Different Kind of Pregnancy

Thomas Beatie is a printing entrepreneur in Oregon, a husband of 10 years to a woman named Nancy, fully bearded, flat chested … and six months pregnant.

In the accompanying video, local residents at Prince George’s Mall in Hyattsville, Md., discuss the moral implications of a transgender man’s pregnancy and whether it was right or wrong.

Born Tracy Lagondino, the former gay activist underwent a partial sex change in which his breasts were removed, and he received a course of male hormones. His female reproductive organs were not removed; luckily so for the couple since his wife was unable to carry a child after an emergency hysterectomy.

Beatie, legally classified as a man after his sex change, inseminated himself with donor sperm after being repeatedly turned away by fertility clinics. He will deliver a daughter in July. In a recent article for The Advocate, Beatie wrote:

“How does it feel to be a pregnant man? Incredible. 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. In a technical sense, I see myself as my own surrogate, though my gender identity as male is constant. To Nancy, I am her husband carrying our child-I am so lucky to have such a loving, supportive wife. I will be my daughter’s father, and Nancy will be her mother. We will be a family.”