"Pregnant Man" Stories Back in Media After Sex-Change Patient Conceives Again

Beatie is legally a man, but no medical or chemical procedure has changed the fact that she's still a woman -- as her pregnancy proves beyond all doubt.

By Ray Stern

November 14, 2008

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By Ray Stern

Celebrity sex-change patient Thomas Beatie is back in the news following her latest pregnancy.

That's right, "her." Beatie is legally a man, but no medical or chemical procedure has changed the fact that she's still a woman -- as her pregnancy proves beyond all doubt.

Yet plugging "pregnant man" into Google News gets 460 current articles about Beatie's newest soon-to-be bundle of joy. Is political correctness and the fear of being labeled a bigot strangling the media's sense of reality? Or is it simply that a "pregnant man" headline makes for a conveniently brief and sensational way of bringing attention to this story, (which really wouldn't be much of a story without the "pregnant man" tag)?

With all due respect to the transgender community -- this is ridiculous.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.