Pregnant man tells Oprah: 'It's a miracle'
8:41AM
Friday April 04, 2008
By Michael Conlon
Thomas Beatie, who is expecting a girl in July, appeared on the 'Oprah Winfrey Show' yesterday. Photo / Reuters
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CHICAGO - A transgender man who is six months pregnant said in an interview aired by Oprah Winfrey on Thursday that he always wanted to have a child and considers it a miracle.
"It's not a male or female desire to have a child. It's a human desire," a thinly bearded Thomas Beatie said.
"I have a very stable male identity," he added, saying that pregnancy neither defines him nor makes him feel feminine.
Beatie, 34, who lives in Oregon, was born a woman but decided to become a man 10 years ago. He began taking testosterone treatments and had breast surgery to remove glands and flatten his chest.
"I opted not to do anything with my reproductive organs because I wanted to have a child one day," he told the talk show host. Beatie's wife Nancy said she inseminated him with a syringe using sperm purchased from a bank.
Now, he said, his size 32 jeans are getting a bit tight and his shirts are a bit stretched.
Nancy, to whom he has been married for five years and who has two grown daughters by a previous marriage, also appeared on the show, saying the couple's roles will not change once the baby is born.
