07/11/2008
Formerly Pregnant Man Thomas Beatie to Get Film Treatment
September Films has picked up the rights for a one-hour documentary about transgender man Thomas Beatie called Pregnant Man:
"The company will have exclusive access to Thomas Beatie and his family. Beatie was formerly Tracy Lagondino, a Hawaiian beauty pageant contestant, before he underwent gender reassignment surgery and hormone treatment. Docu will tell the story of his life, from difficult childhood and transgender issues as a teenager, through to the birth of his daughter at an Oregon hospital on June 29...September, which is owned by DCD Media, fought off rival bids for the rights from four other companies. Sheldon Lazarus, creative director of September, said: 'This controversial and unique story has made ‘Pregnant Man’ one of the most sought after stories to film. September is gaining a truly global reputation for producing these types of documentaries and handling the subject matter in a responsible and sensitive manner.'"
Posted 11:18 AM EST by Andy Towle | Permalink
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Will he just go away quietly? Please? I'm sick and tired of hearing about him!
Posted by: Allen | Jul 11, 2008 11:27:59 AM
I personally think it's wonderful that this couple was able to conceive a child. I also think it's great that Thomas has been able to transition into the person he knows he is. But I get a little frustrated with all the "Pregnant Man" stories. Thomas was able to conceive because he is biologically female (still). He has all his lady bits in tact. He wasn't exactly a "pregnant man."
Posted by: BusyTimmy | Jul 11, 2008 11:30:42 AM
Hear, hear, Allen! I'm sick of hearing about him and even more sick of seeing his pregnant belly! Enough already--it's turned into a freak show.
Posted by: Michael W. | Jul 11, 2008 11:33:23 AM
I only hope $ the Beaties are making off all this coverage actually contributes to the welfare of their daughter. She's going to have enough issues growing up with attention whore parents...
Posted by: kipp | Jul 11, 2008 11:48:37 AM
Well, atleast y'all are using the masculine pronoun "he". Thanks, open-minded gay men, your magnanimity is overwelming.
A sincere "thanks", BUSYTIMMY. You're attitude is all that transfolk ask from the gay community.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jul 11, 2008 11:48:59 AM
"your" attitude and tolerance, BUSYTIMMY. Thanks, again.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jul 11, 2008 11:50:37 AM
I know this is not PC, but the whole thing is just to strange for me. It's like some odd ScFi movie.
Posted by: Bob West | Jul 11, 2008 12:22:10 PM
"Beatie was formerly Tracy Lagondino, a Hawaiian beauty pageant contestant...." So Tracy/Thomas may have been a man trapped inside a woman's body, and still has a woman's reproductive organs inside a "man's body," but both she and he [which semantically "they" still are] remain most of all an attention whore.
Now I know why the researcher on the transgendered I heard speak many years ago said, "My experience is that most have their autobiography ready to send to publishers before their surgery is even complete."
I have often written about how much I support transgender equality and DO see their fight for same as parallel to the gay community's. But in the same way not every gay man or woman who has a built-in compass that automatically points to the nearest camera to satisfy their insatiable craving for attention above all else is often not in our best interest, so, too, is the trans community hurt by its disturbed denizens. And, in this case, we, too.
We'll survive Tracy/Thomas's exercising their Constitutional right to win the [as perceived by Homer & Jethrine America] Freak Pageant, but we have an equal right to call them on it.
Posted by: Leland Frances | Jul 11, 2008 12:42:31 PM
Every transgender person I know (with the exception of one, M to F that became a lesbian) does not identify themselves as gay, so I'm waiting for the day when we as gay men can stop speaking for them and their voice can stand alone.
There are immensely complicated social and biological issues that come from the process of going through the change that I can't wrap my head around since I've never been conflicted about my gender.
My personal view of the pregnant "man" in case you ask...I understand that he identifies as masculine, but her physiology and actions contradict his identity. Hopefully some of the money gained from the media circus is going to a good shrink.
Posted by: Mark | Jul 11, 2008 12:44:11 PM
So, for you, Mark, only transsexuals can be transgendered. As any drag queen or drag king can tell you, that is a very narrow definition. If a drag queen is taking female hormones(to soften skin), has had multiple surgeries to feminize appearance, and breast implants; but "she" still has a 9 inch dick that "she" uses--well, is "she" transgendered by appearance, but still gay? You tell me.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jul 11, 2008 1:03:24 PM
DERRICK, I'm just saying that my experience with drags and trannys is that they see themselves as being very different from each other.
You bring up a great point about those that only go so far with the procedure. I can't answer you decisively, but I believe that she has crossed the line from drag to tranny. (and I do understand that tranny is considered offensive to some, but that's the terminology everyone used back in the days when I worked at boy bar and Pyramid).
Posted by: Mark | Jul 11, 2008 1:14:19 PM
Thank you, Derrick!
Plus, there was that recent Out Magazine profile on F2Ms that are gay men. However people want to parse it, the transgendered and gay worlds do intersect.
Plus, I view it all as a struggle to expand society's narrow definitions of gender-appropriate (or heteronormative) behavior. Both gay people (who hello, have sex with their own biological sex/gender . . . something that deviates from the norm) and transpeople have in common.
Posted by: Alex | Jul 11, 2008 1:14:26 PM
Like I said ... Will he just go away quietly? Please? I'm sick and tired of hearing about him!
Posted by: Allen | Jul 11, 2008 1:26:00 PM
I'm with MARK.
Neither of my two M2F trans friends consider themselves gay, and likewise I do not consider them a part of the "gay community." I consider them my friends, and I am sympathetic and supportive of their struggles for acceptance equal to that of all groups.
Drag queens are transvestites, not transgendered and do not fall into this category, or frankly this discussion.
Posted by: Dan B | Jul 11, 2008 1:31:42 PM
This makes us all look like freaks. Oh, and stop shaving and put a shirt on! Gross!
Posted by: Ty | Jul 11, 2008 1:35:33 PM
oh, God forbid we should look like freaks!
i hope in the future we're all the same in that homogenous cookie cutter way.
maybe we won't even have genitalia and we'll all have identical Barbie bumps.
Posted by: Alex | Jul 11, 2008 1:49:22 PM
DAN B.,
Here in Philadelphia, there are many transvestite homosexuals who work in agencies that service the "transgendered community". From the first time I ever went out with gay friends there were drag queens present--a few of whom went on to have surgery.
I DO KNOW transvestite homosexuals who call themselves transgendered and gay. When they were young they thought they wanted surgery. As they got older, they said, "no". Maybe in your world there is complete separation between trans and gay; in mine, there is not.
Drag Queens and Drag Kings will always fall into this discussion because they are part of the gay world that many bigoted gay men do not accept. Why? Because they are put into the same grouping as transgendered folks--even though they have no intention of having sex reassignment.
DAN B., did you ever see "Paris Is Burning"? If so, what is Octavia St. Laurent? And what about the Terrance Stamp character in "Priscilla: Queen of the Desert." Stamp's character was gay for all those years, had the surgery, but remained part of the gay world. THat's not just fiction, DAN B.
Drag Queens and androgynous folks (like Chris Crocker) are ALWAYS part of this discussion because they are both gay and transgendered.
And DAN B., many many straight folks don't know the difference between transfolk and gayfolk. They think it just has to do with physical appearance, "'cause they act just about the same".
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jul 11, 2008 1:54:46 PM
This is what could have been a great story for this couple gone horribly wrong. If an FTM wants to get pregnant and can safely do it, I'm all for it - and it looks like that was the case here. Gender roles need to be shaken up in this country.
The media attention, however, has really gone too far. This pregnancy and child are now a media commodity. Splendid.
Posted by: scientitian | Jul 11, 2008 1:55:14 PM
DERRICK, I will agree that the lines are blurred, and you bring up good points.
Many girls didn't get surgery because of the costs and strict medical guidelines involved. Many others chose less expensive & life threatening procedures, like injecting silicone directly into the muscle, and black market hormones to become more feminine. That to me indicates transgenderism. By the way, you and I are really talking about a fraction of the trans population...those in the entertainment world.
Many of those girls are entrenched in the gay world because it where they feel the most acceptance (I agree there is still a lot of hostility towards them by gays), but it doesn't mean that they necessarily identify as gay. (as I mentioned before, there are always exceptions).
Just because many straight folks don't know the difference between drags, fems, and trans, doesn't mean that we should lump them in one basket.
And it's a beautiful day--shouldn't you be in the park? : )
Posted by: Mark | Jul 11, 2008 2:24:14 PM
DAN B.,
everytime we have this discussion on Towleroad there is something I always forget to mention. I google the term "transgender" after each discussion. The definitions that come up on each site are closer to mind, DAN B. The definition of transgender is "in flux".
Why are so many gay men so vehement about making this separation? It's not just the need to "clarify" things--it's a deep seated hatred of feminine males (just like straight guys--sometimes worse). It appears to go back to when "traditional masculine" acting (or wannabe masculine acting) gay men first started coming out of the closet in large numbers--the 1970s(After Stonewall): the desire to rid gay men's image of the stigma of effeminacy. Well...keepa' tryin'.
But I think it's better to just accept gay diversity-- from no-op transfolk to homothugs: the whole gamut.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jul 11, 2008 2:27:25 PM
This woman is a total publicity whore, is only doing this TO get the movie deal, is already whoring her child out as bad as any celebrity or beauty pageant mother,and just because you take hormones to create some male features it doesnt make you a man. Of course the picture is of her shaving her face, make her look real manly. Big deal, its called a drug side effect, like a headache. Which is what the hype about this broad gives me. When a man with a set of balls and a cock gets pregnant, that might be news worthy. She has a VAGINA AND CARRIED A BABY TO TERM, hence she is not a man.
Posted by: disgusted | Jul 11, 2008 2:31:40 PM
Wow. What a great conversation!!! I agree. Gender roles are for the birds! We need to, as contributors to society, have more open minds about what people are "supposed" to be doing with their lives. As far as the "pregnant guy" whoring himself and his family out for money... isn't that what basically ALL celebrities are doing these days? I don't know. I don't think I'm do judge that. I'm just here to make that decision for my family. Maybe he will put it to good use! Just maybe. And then go back to his "normal" family life.
I've never heard someone say that the gay community would like to stand back and let the transgendered community speak for itself. That is a good thought and to some point I definitely agree. To lump groups together simply because they have some resemblance of similarity is insanity. But minority group's do need to stick together, however similar or different they are, to support each other in the fight to become accepted in what our society considers "normal."
I hate that word. But so happy to be reading this conversation. I'm very encouraged.
Posted by: Aly | Jul 11, 2008 2:32:40 PM
" definitions are closer to MINE"
Jeeez, I call myself proofreading.
LOL@MARK
The park is too beautiful now. Clean as the Board of Health (which aint never that clean, is it?). Even back when Gay Acres was in action, it wasn't till night time...well, unless you were kinda' loose in the head.
Funny, never any transfolk in the park.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jul 11, 2008 2:33:06 PM
Yes, you CAN be both trans and gay, just like a person CAN have blue eyes and be diabetic. That doesn't mean you lump them all into the same pile.
The political and sociological issues for trans and gays are quite different, and conflating the two can cause a lot more problems than it solves.
As for the media frenzy surrounding the pregnancy of a mere double-mastectomy patient, I have to ask: How does cutting one's boobies off make it any harder to get pregnant?
Posted by: Meanwhile | Jul 11, 2008 2:36:35 PM
What I'm about to write will probably be offensive, sorry in advance, but it will be true. This person is NOT a man, this person is a hermaphrodite. Which makes this person a man/woman not just a man. By law, yeah, that's what it's listed as, but in reality this person is still a he/she. Which means this is not a pregnant man. This is a pregnant he/she. Do you know the trauma that child is going to go through when she's growing up! She's going to be called a freak and every other word in the book once people realize who here parents are. It's going to more than likely suck for that child growing up. I think it's great they wanted to concieve a child at all costs, but that they didn't think about what the child will most likely go through. I hope that whatever money they make off of this that they'll use it to put the kid into conseling if she needs it, because I don't have much of a doubt in my mind that she's probably going to need it. That's my two cents.
Posted by: Ashley | Jul 11, 2008 2:43:16 PM