Transgender Man Says He's Pregnant

March 26, 2008 — -- A transgender man from Oregon says he is five months pregnant, according to gay rights magazine The Advocate.

Stunning photos of what appears to be a pregnant Thomas Beatie accompany the first-person article on the publication's Web site.

"Our situation sparks legal, political and social unknowns," wrote Beatie, who's from Bend, Ore.

Beatie, who was born a woman named Tracy Lagondino, had reassignment surgery to appear as a man outwardly, but he never surgically altered his reproductive organs, he said in the article. He only had chest reconstruction and began taking testosterone, Beatie said, meaning he still has ovaries and a uterus.

Now Beatie, who said he was able to get pregnant using artificial insemination, is expecting a baby girl with his wife, Nancy. He said he was 22 weeks along. The baby is due July 3.

But Beatie's case, while uncommon, is not unique. Another transgender man has given birth before, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center obstetrician Dr. Lisa Masterson said on "Good Morning America" today.

"A transgender man can be pregnant because he has the same organs as a woman," she said, adding that Beatie should have no problem having a baby.

But Masterson said there are some health risks with this kind of pregnancy.

"It's really important that he doesn't take any testosterone early on in the pregnancy and later on," she said. "That can cause male-type characteristics in the female baby."

Usually, transgender men use testosterone to gain more masculine qualities. The article said he stopped getting injections and was able to get pregnant.

Beatie also addressed some burning, practical questions people may have.

"To Nancy, I am her husband carrying our child," he wrote, explaning that his wife is unable to conceive. "I will be my daughter's father, and Nancy will be her mother. We will be a family."

But not everyone believes Beatie's story. Some of his neighbors expressed indredulity.

"Quite frankly, I think it's a hoax," Beatie's neighbor Ron Schlieper said. "I saw him a few days ago, and he didn't look like that."

Another Bend resident, Josh Love, said, "I couldn't say that he looks pregnant. I can stick my stomach out and almost make it look like that. I think it's kind of bizarre. I don't know if I believe it or not."

But The Advocate, which posted the story in its online edition, said it stands by its story even though so far the couple has refused to talk to other media.

"We asked Thomas to provide the name of his doctor, and she confirmed that he was pregnant and that his pregnancy is proceeding as it should," Advocate editor in chief Anne Stockwell said.

For more information on transgender issues, visit The National Institutes of Health.