Joining their daughter Susan Juliette (pictured) is a little brother! Thomas Beatie, who everyone knows as the “pregnant man,” and wife Nancy this morning welcomed their second child through “natural birth,” which is sure to send curiosity reeling since Thomas, 35, had gender reassignment surgery and says he does have sex with his wife. (Those familiar with these operations will know it’s possible to create a small-ish working penis while maintaining a functioning everything else.) Congratulations to the burgeoning family!
(Photo: Regine Mahaux/Getty)
Em
Congrats to the happy family!!!
Smokey Martini
Why is natural birth in quotation marks? If it wasn’t a C-section, then natural is the appropriate term to use if Beattie did, indeed, deliver the baby through his vagina.
Lucky Luke
Yep, it’s natural birth. He’s not really a man, just a woman “playing” to be a man. I guess if he really identified himself as a man, he wouldn’t be popping out babies. I don’t know, it’s weird. Maybe not trasngender, but some mixed gender thing.
Kropotkin
Lucky Luke: Beatie identifies as a man, therefore he is a man period. Trans people don’t give up the right to have kids and still identify as their identified gender when they transition.
And Queerty, it seems you couldn’t but help to sensationalize the story by talking about Beatie’s sex life. I guess I couldn’t have expected any more from you. And it’s pretty damn obvious that you’re not familiar with any “operations”, since Beatie has had none and SRS renders a person incapable of traditonal reproduction.
ChristopherM
@Lucky Luke:
Before you appoint yourself the arbiter of who is and is not a man, you should bear in mind exactly what bigots think of our manliness, regardless of how butch or femme any one of us is.
julian
Not all transguys get “the surgery” mostly because, while sure it’s “functional” it’s nowhere near realistic. And it’s hella expensive. And as for the “he does have sex with his wife” comment, there is such thing as a strap on.
Anyway, congrats to the family!
Lucky Luke
I was not talking about being butch or femme, but being a male/female. I’ve worked with who would never considered this kind of thing beucase they see themselves a males in beiological sense, had trhe sex change operation and want their lives to work as a male, not only on the outside. An they fought hard to get where they were and this would undermine all that, bur o f course, each person has their won beliefs and know what’s better for them.
And of course, if they thought in the same way this guy does, they woouldn’t even get the surgery to begin with, since here in Brazil it’s paid by the government onlye after the pacient has gone through a program of evaluation, counseling and all that for at least 2 years. And even after thatt, some regret the surgery because it’s not what they expect it would be, which is very sad.
Lucky Luke
Sorry for the crappy typing in the post above. 😛
Smokey Martini
^ Somewhat off topic, but… this is precisely why re-reading your posts and correcting your errors before hitting the submit button is generally a good idea.
Lucky Luke
Yep, I forgot I can’t edit them afterwards.
Smokey Martini
@Lucky Luke:
Generally speaking, though: most sites don’t offer that option.
That’s still no excuse for sloppy writing.
Miss Understood
He’s hot. I’d do him.
Meg
November was less than nine months ago. Did Thomas get pregnant the day after Susan was born and then have a premature son?
Lucky Luke
@Smokey Martini:
Jesus, did I ran over your dog or something?
AlanInSLC
There are always excuses for anything. Sloppy writting could simply mean that people don’t GIVE A RATS ASS what people think as long as the general idea of the subject comes through. If someone has an issue with the outcome of the writing, I think its their problem. I understood the comments and wasn’t totally put off by errors.
As far as for the new baby…I think its awesome. Who cares how these people identify themselves in society. As long as they are happy and the new little ones are healthy and have everything and every opportunity in this world, WHO CARES if they are male/female, transgendered or gender confused?
Congrats to the family and their courage to not give a fuck!
Fitz
The only part that is a turn off for me is the sensationalism around it. I don’t know where that comes from, if it’s from them or outside.. But the whole ‘man gives birth’ thing is factually inaccurate and has a freak-show feel about it. I hope that the family is happy, and that the kid grows to be healthy and productive and happy also.
Rando
@Smokey Martini: It’s commenting on not artificial insemination. That is why they had the following sentence remarking on how he didn’t have sex with his wife.
WTF?
I’m sure I’m going to stir up all sorts of controversy, but…. If I declared that – in my bones – I KNEW I was a reptilian from Beta Reticuli, despite what my outward appearance and even chromosomes told you, would you all support me in that assertion or would you claim that I had mental problems? I’m not disparaging his/her right to be his/herself and pursue happiness to the ends of the earth, but you must also understand the implications of sharing another’s perceptions when they are hard to accept or impossible to corroborate.
J.Lowrot
I’m a little turned off by the fame whoring. These pictures are staged, apparently taken by a professional photographer, the wife is in full make-up . . . the only question is, when will the reality TV show start taping? They seem like they’re trying to be the Jon and Kate Plus Eight of trans families.
strumpetwindsock
@WTF?:
Fair question. Let’s turn it around.
If you didn’t have a chance to take a blood sample or check out what was in his pants would you even know or care?
Our entire social construct around gender,and a lot of other ways we define ourselves, have virtually no basis in physical reality.
And the bit about changing one’s body – a lot of things that are more common and accepted – dyeing or curling one’s hair, straightening teeth, extreme muscle toning, tattooing. Some of them are just as much and even more of a physical change than some trans people go through.
The assumption that gender is hard-wired to one’s genetics is actually the real illusion. He is just acting on what he knows he IS, and the fact that it is so strong that he has to break the
If he feels that he’s a guy and makes it happen good for him, and we should respect and accept it. After all, it’s not too different than the argument that WE should just be normal and stop acting unnaturally.
strumpetwindsock
ooops… erased some words:
the fact it is so strong that he has to break the illusion we all hold is evidence of how real it is for him.
Kropotkin
” I’m not disparaging his/her right to be his/herself and pursue happiness to the ends of the earth, but you must also understand the implications of sharing another’s perceptions when they are hard to accept or impossible to corroborate.”
The same could be said of gay or queer identity, in fact being gay wasn’t an “identity” as we think of it now (that its in-born, on an equal basis with heterosexuality and not some kind of paraphilia) until the 1950s. How do we a person is gay? How do we know they’re straight and faking when kissing other guys?
So no, the only implication of this is when encountering a perception that is hard to accept or might disturb a person’s preconceive notions is that a bit of critical thinking and empathy might be in order. Oh yeah, shedding some cissexist privilege might help too.
And as for using biological arguments used to question transgender indentity, we all know how well biological arguments work when talking about sexuality (ie. adam and eve, not adam and steve). They all fall pretty flat when dealing with how a person feels internally and what they think of themselves as a human being.
Thom
Thomas Beatie is an attention seeking douche bag, nothing else, she wanted her 15 minutes, she got it, now move on.
jason
Thomas Beattie is not a man. He’s a woman. He’s a woman who had a partial sex change, electing to keep her reproductive organs.
Let’s not make this a gay rights issue. I see this more as self-debasement.
Smokey Martini
@jason:
Correction: Thomas Beattie is a man. A man who has decided, for the time being, to keep the reproductive organs he was born with in order to conceive and give birth to two babies. His wife, it turns out, cannot do so because she had a hysterectomy years ago. And so, Beattie has postponed sexual reassignment surgery to give his family what they had always planned to have: children.
How is this self-debasement? It’s called ‘making an important life decision that will benefit both you and your wife.’
At least get your facts straight before you start making ignorant comments.
jason
Thomas Beattie has the genes of a man. He is not a woman. If he were a woman, he’d have the genes of a woman.
Lex
Men don’t have vaginas. Men can’t have vaginal births. Men can’t give birth at all.
Stop over complicating every god damned thing. I can think I’m a fucking flower but until I actually become a flower I’m a fucking man.
It’s not that complicated. There’s no mystery and all this sensationalism to play on sheep is pathetic. Likewise the pseudo-intellectuals who go on and on about how she’s really a man while insulting the intelligence of those who can plainly see she’s a woman who’s fame whoring are equally pathetic.
Why defend a freakshow who’s getting rich off lies? I’m sure real transgender people who actually go through what this dumb bitch is pretending to aren’t so into her games. If anything she’s making their issues seem fake and unimportant.
If it was a guy who only went halfway and grew breasts would you support a news story about a woman shooting sperm?
Scotty
Wow. People are mean here.
Fitz
This just in: Flat chested & bearded lesbian has a kid.
Not a Gay rights issue. It’s a story about our culture’s obsession with the faux intimacy created by intrusive pop media. If what they wanted was their own little family life, then I would have never known about them.
osocubano
I don’t understand what the big deal is.
Thomas Beatie is still a woman, however bearded and titless she might be.
strumpetwindsock
@Lex:
@Fitz:
@osocubano:
Great show of solidarity, boys. Good thing we have you around to point out who the freaks are, just so we know that the rest of us are perfectly normal.
Who needs the fundamentalists and the homophobes when we have you in our camp to do their work for them?
Fitz
@strumpetwindsock: I never claimed any solidarity. And I didn’t call them freaks, those are your words. I called them media whores.
strumpetwindsock
@Fitz:
And you also said this is not a gay rights issue.
You are free to decide whom you do and don’t support, but trans rights (and anyone else’s) are as much our concern as gay, lesbian and bisexual rights, as far as I am concerned.
It’s discouraging that we have more solid and unqualified support from many straight people than we do from a lot of queers who distance themselves from people they see as less “normal” than themselves.
TANK
@Fitz:
cosign
Fitz
@strumpetwindsock: You project all over the place. No one called them not-normal, or freaks, except you by your constant drum banging. I said it’s not a gay issue, and it isn’t to me. i said that they are media whores, and they are. And if you look up further, I also said that I wish them and the kids well.
strumpetwindsock
@Fitz:
In the first place I was not just talking to you.
Secondly, the word freak was used at least twice in this thread (not counting your last post).
And thirdly, however you want to cut it, comments like “flatchested, bearded lesbian” and “titless” are just as descriptive and demeaning as words like “fudgepacker” and “cornholer” and “ass-licker”.
I have read quite a few anti-trans comments on this site, and it almost always comes down to disrespecting who they are and implying that they are somehow less normal than we are. There is also the assumption that they make us look bad, stand in the way of straights respecting us, and that their rights are not a gay issue.
(though if you think Thomas is a lesbian, not trans, then this should be a gay issue for you, no?)
Like I said, I think there is a lot more open mindedness and respect among many in the straight community than there is here.
reece
@Lucky Luke: even transgendered people want children who is to say who is right and who is not. speaking as someone transgendered intercourse is possible thanks to shots and other type of surgery without interfering with the female sex organs. being a dad for most transgender ftm means having it yourself then finishing surgery. being a dad is lifes greatest gift
aly
i need to know about thomas beaties background plz help
Jim and diane breisch
Thomas And Karen are a wonderful example to the rest of the world as to what true love is all about. I would be honored to have grandchildren in this situation since the love shown between parents is the basis of the relationship between parent and child. I am saddened by the hatred of narrowminded persons who can only match the word love with sex. May you have many more thomas and Karen.
botolover
WOW…..PEOPLE ARE MEAN. WHO CARES WHAT’S RIGHT OR WRONG, THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG…IT IS WHAT IT IS….
Ann Bradford
This is all so stupid. I mean when I first heard about a man having a baby, I pictured a man having a baby. Then I listened to the details on the Oprah show and felt really duped. Come on, any woman can have her breasts removed, take hormone shots, change her name and still have a baby. If Thomas wants to be called a man, whatever. But there isn’t a doctor on this planet who wouldn’t say Thomas is biologically a female. I can’t believe the media and Oprah actually gave this stupidity any attention.