The Pregnant Husband
The sad part about this story is that people will think it’s a joke. It’s not.
Thomas Beatie, profiled in the current issue of Advocate, is transgender, legally male, and legally married to his wife Nancy. Nancy is unable to conceive because of severe endometriosis and a hysterectomy 20 years ago. Thomas has had chest reconstruction and been on testosterone therapy, but kept his reproductive organs. When the couple decided they wanted to have a child, Thomas stopped taking testosterone, and was able to conceive without even needing fertility drugs.
They have not found much support among doctors and other healthcare professionals. They went through nine doctors before finding one to help them. I’ve known butch, but female-identified lesbians who have found it difficult to deal with society’s expectations of what a pregnant person should look like. I can only imagine what Thomas and Nancy are experiencing.
Nevertheless, the universal joy of pending parenthood comes through in Thomas’ words:
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. . . . I will be my daughter’s father, and Nancy will be her mother. We will be a family.
Thomas knows, however, that his family raises larger questions: “our situation ultimately will ask everyone to embrace the gamut of human possibility and to define for themselves what is normal.”
As I see it? Loving parents are normal. Everything else is variable.
Best of luck to Thomas, Nancy, and their growing family.
Filed under: Family Creation, Selves and Identities
I can imagine that it wouldn’t be easy for them. But it certainly makes sense under the circumstances. Well maybe they’ll broaden some horizons.
while i can understand that to many, this will be way way way out there, i think that it is fantastic. i wish thomas and nancy the best of luck, and the most of joy.
I also wish them much joy. I am just an average straight woman but I see nothing wrong or abnormal about their situation. I think loving parents are all that matters and I hope that they live a happy life with a minimum amount of harassment from people who are judgemental.
[...] a minor sensation several weeks ago when he came out as a pregnant transgender man. I offered my own opinion about him, which boils down to “a loving family is all that [...]
[...] of this helps explain the media fascination with Thomas Beatie, the actual transgender man who announced his pregnancy several weeks ago. A man getting pregnant—or even any trans person deliberately starting a [...]