An FTM activist
responds to the media coverage of Thomas Beatie after his
article appeared in The Advocate.
Transgender man
Thomas Beatie set off a firestorm in the LGBT
population and the world when he announced that he is having
a baby and continues to identify as a man. His article
in The Advocate, “Labor of Love,” left
many, even some transgender people, wondering how
someone can identify as male and yet be pregnant. Some
have even gone so far to suggest that by bearing the
child he is less, or even not, male, despite Beatie’s
declaration that he continues to identify as male.
But nature is
full of pregnant males. Male sea horses, pipefish, and
weedy and leafy sea dragons are examples of males that can
get pregnant. Some intersex people with XY chromosomes
develop female bodies and the pregnant person has a Y
chromosome, which is usually associated with males.
The argument that it is unnatural for him to have a baby
flies in the face of real, live examples from nature
where males get pregnant. Beatie, who has had various
surgeries and hormone therapies over the years but did
not have his ovaries and uterus removed, has chosen to
carry a child because his wife could not conceive. The baby
is due in July. This is about the birth of a child,
and this birth is no more or less miraculous than the
birth of any child.
Some suggest that
by not fitting in as an everyday man, Beatie makes it
harder for the rest of the FTM population. Being
“out” is a complicated question for
transgender people. Many feel there is nothing to be out
about. They don’t see themselves as transgender per
se, but rather transitioned, as they are finally able
to be the man or woman that they felt they were. That
said, we, the transgender community, should never
discourage people from being out, nor should we dictate what
they should do or say once they are out. I remember
that in the early '90s many would say we should
prohibit outrageously dressed people from marching in pride
parades because hate groups would tape them and then use the
footage to raise funds to be used against us. The
Beatie story has limited relevance to the larger
transgender experience, but I am happy for the
Beaties, and it is my hope that we will embrace all of our
diversity, proud of all our differences because it
strengthens us more than we will ever know.
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Transgender male leader Robert Haaland is an FTM
advocate for LGBT rights who serves on the national
board of Pride at Work and is a union
organizer.