The ABC newsmagazine 20/20 is
ready to explore the pregnancy of Thomas Beatie – the world's first
transgender man to give birth – in a new Barbara Walters special to
air on Friday.
Beatie's spring announcement in gay
monthly The Advocate drew controversy and stirred emotions
about Beatie's claimed masculinity. He defended his right to have
a child on The Oprah Winfrey Show saying:
“I feel it's not a male or
female desire to have a child. It's a human need. I'm a person and
I have the right to have a biological child.”
Born
Tracy Lagondino, a former Miss Hawaii Teen USA beauty pageant
finalist, Tracy transgendered to Thomas in his early twenties. He
confessed on The Oprah Winfrey Show that
his childhood was troubled.
Beatie legally
married his wife Nancy in 2003, a mother of two divorcee. He decided
to get pregnant after learning that Nancy was unable to bear another
child due to a hysterectomy. Beatie had retained his reproductive
sexual organs when he transgendered to a man.
The couple became
pregnant through artificial insemination and gave birth to a healthy
baby girl at an Oregon hospital on June 29th.
The interview is
the first Beatie and his wife have given since the birth of their
daughter, Susan. The hour-long report promises an exclusive inside
look at the Beatie family household and footage from inside the
hospital during Susan's birth.
In addition to the
Walters prime-time special, a documentary and book on the life of
Thomas Beatie are also in the works.
UK based Sundance
Films announced in July plans to produce the documentary titled
Pregnant Man. While plans to distribute the film in the U.S.
remain uncertain, BBC's Channel 4 has already purchased the British
rights.
And Beatie's own
memoir Labor of Love: The Story of One Man's Extraordinary
Pregnancy arrived last week.