When Oprah gets involved, people get famous. And in the case of transgender man Thomas Beattie, the results of this fame are, so far, neither fortune nor glory. Since Beattie first wrote about his unorthodox decision to stop taking testosterone and become pregnant because
his wife is unable to carry a child, the media has (unsurprisingly) had a
field day with what quickly became dubbed the “pregnant man” story. The Oprah Winfrey Show, the BBC, Good Morning America, and People are only a few of the mainstream outlets to cover Beattie's pregnancy.
According to an update from The Advocate—the LGBT magazine
that broke Beattie’s story—not everyone in the transgender community is pleased
with Beattie’s decision to go public. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to Beattie, who said that he contacted
several transgender organizations before writing a first-person account of his decision to carry a child
in The Advocate.
Half of the organizations never responded, and most of the others urged him to stay out of the
limelight, worrying that publicity would only harm the Beattie family and the
transgender community at large.
Specifically, many trans activists worry that Beattie’s
unusual story will cause an already less than tolerant public to label all transgender
people “freaks” and “disgusting,” two terms that flooded the blogosphere in
the wake of Beattie’s story. (The comments on my first article about Beattie’s
pregnancy are a case in point.) Even more concerning are fears that this media frenzy could be used to fuel legislation curbing
transgender rights, just as many states passed anti-gay marriage legislation after
the Massachusetts supreme court upheld gays’ right to marry.
On the other hand, some LGBT activists applaud Beattie’s decision
to stretch the limits of the public’s tolerance. As Beattie wrote in the
Advocate—and Oprah quoted to a supportive studio audience—“[O]ur situation ultimately will ask everyone to
embrace the gamut of human possibility and to define for themselves what is
normal.”
While I am supportive of Beattie’s optimism that his story will
open the public’s eyes to the many forms a healthy, loving family can take, I fear
that this shift in perspective is unlikely to happen fast enough to shield his child from discrimination throughout his or her youth. With many bloggers expressing
not only disgust but violent hatred for Beattie and his unborn child, I’m
afraid we’ve got a long way to go.
Photo: ABC News
