Scott Moore, thought to be only the second ‘pregnant man’ to go public, will give birth to a baby boy in February with his husband Scott by his side. The first ‘pregnant man,’ Thomas Beatie from Oregon, gave birth to a girl in 2008.
Scott and Thomas were both born as girls and have undergone surgery to change their sex.
Scott, age 30, and Thomas have decided to name their baby Miles. Scott is legally wed to Thomas, he still has a female birth certificate. The California couple already have two children (Gregg, 12, and Logan, 10) who Thomas had with a previous female partner.
“We know some people will criticize us but we are blissfully happy and not ashamed,” said Scott.
Scott was born a girl named Jessica and realized he wanted to be a man when he hit puberty at age 11.
“When I told my family they thought I was crazy but they gradually realized I was serious and allowed me to start taking male hormones when I was 16 years old,” he said.
His parents paid for Scott to have his 36DDD chest removed. He could not afford the gender reassignment surgery, so he still has female organs.
Scott’s partner, Thomas, used to be called Laura, had a histeroctemy and gender reassignment surgery last year. The two met at a support group in 2005 at a meeting for transgender men but lost touch until they saw each other again in 2007. Scott became pregnant in June of 2009 after being inseminated with the sperm of a male friend.
Thomas’s children refer to Scott as “dad two,” and live in a four bedroom house. They have dismissed concerns that Miles will be teased at school, saying that they have been through it already. Thomas said, “My son Logan was bullied but now he just says to teasers, ‘You may have a problem with my two dads but I don’t so you’re not hurting me’.”
Scott wants to have a natural birth at the local hospital. “We didn’t want everyone to be shocked when a man turns up to give birth,” he said. “We found it very difficult to get a doctor and midwife at first. It was hard when people didn’t want to treat me.”
“No pregnant person should be denied healthcare just because they are a man.”
Thomas added, “We want to show the world that trans-families can be healthy, loving and nurturing.”
Transgender people don’t identify with the body they were born into. They feel they have the brain of the opposite gender, which does not match their biological gender. It is the state of one’s gender identity (self identifying as a man or women) not matching one’s physical sex.
Transgender does not imply any specific sexual orientation. They may identify as homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, asexual, or feel that sexual orientation lables are inapplicable to them.
The term transman refers to female-to-male transgender (FTM, or F2M) people while transwoman refers to male-to-female (MTF, or M2F) transgender people. The Native Americans referred to transgender people as Two-Spirit, a masculine and feminine spirit living in the same body.
Transvestites, or cross-dressers, describes wearing the clothes or accessories associted with the opposite gender. Cross-dressing doesn’t necessarily affect sexual preference; not all cross-dressers are gay.
A transgender individual involves wanting to be considered another gender, not just dressing as one. Transgender people may or may not undergo surgery and hormone therapy to complete their gender transformation.
A pre-op transgender person refers to a transgender individual who has not had surgery to alter his or her body, though he or she may want the surgery.
A post-op transgender person has had the gender reassignment surgery.
Hormone therapy, or hormone replacement therapy, involves taking synthetic hormones such as testosterone and estrogen. Biologically, women produce more estrogen while men produce more testosterone.
Males transitioning to females, male-to-female (MTF), experience the following effects of estrogen through hormone treatment:
- Breast development (full development takes several years)
- Loss of ejaculation
- Loss of erection
- Shrinkage of testicles
- Sterilitiy
Temporary changes for MTF, which are reverisible if hormone therapy is stopped, include the following:
- Decrease in acne
- Decrease in facial and body hair
- Decrease in muscle mass and strength
- Skin becomes softer and smoother
- Slowing of balding pattern
- Redistribution of fat from abdominal area to hips and buttocks
Females transitioning to males, female-to-male (FTM), may experience the following permanent effects of testosterone:
- Atrophy of the uterus and ovaries, resulting in sterility
- Baldness; hair loss, especially at temples and crown of head
- Beard and mustache growth
- Deepening of the voice
- Increased growth of body hair
- Sterility
Temporary changes for FTM, which are reversible if hormone therapy is stopped, include the following:
- Behavioral developments associated with testosterone production during male puberty, such as aggression and increased libido
- Development of acne, similar to male puberty
- Increased mass muscle and strength
- Increase in number of red blood cells
- Redistribution of fat from breasts, hips, and thighs to abdominal area