So a kid posted a secret to live journal… he said that Thomas Beatie saved his life, cos until he saw him on the news, he had no idea he could transition.
If he saved one trans kids life, than in my eyes he’s a hero.
If he saved one trans kids life, than in my eyes he’s a hero.
Beattie is a self-serving jerk. It’s great that that Livejournal kid found the courage to do what he needs to survive, though.
I disagree. Beatie fought hard to win his reproductive rights, it took courage to go public, and it had already become an uncontrollable media circus before he even tried to make any money off it. If he hadn’t gone on Oprah the outcome would have been pretty much the same (except that he’d have less cash now, obviously, but we all need money).
My biggest issue with Thomas Beatie is that he ISN’T the first pregnant trans guy. He isn’t the first one to go public, either.
Absolutely. He wasn’t the first anything. And if you read the original article he wrote for The Advocate, he never claimed to be the first. The media just assumed that he was first because they’d never heard of it before. Beyond that first article the media coverage was never truly in his control, and The World’s First Pregnant Man was a label that the media thrust upon him without asking him first.
The same thing happened to Christine Jorgensen in the 1950s, when the media said that she’d had The First Sex Change Operation although she wasn’t first, not by twenty years or so.
I don’t think it’s fair to blame Thomas or Christine for the collective ignorance of a thousand journalists.