Lez Keep It Real

I haven’t touched upon the “pregnant man” story as of yet. I think I was still trying to digest what it all really meant or stood for. I’m not really fond of the way it’s paraded through the media, billed as some “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” phenomena, because it’s far more complex than that.

As you all know, I’m a big proponent of transgendered rights. I don’t know even know how I’d deal with being stuck in the wrong body, the therapy that would require, the time and understanding — everything surrounding the transgender concept. And I thought being gay was hard to come to terms with!!

Anyway, I left the “pregnant man” story alone because I just couldn’t formulate my thoughts about it without going off on a tangent or feeling as though I just didn’t get it.

I will say that I am happy Thomas Lagondino is going to have child. And that is a wonderful thing. But from what I understand about being transgendered, I can’t for the life of me figure out what man is his right mind would want to carry a child? Thomas has maintained that he is a man stuck in a female body. I get that. He did what he needed to do to line up his body with the appropriate gender by taking testosterone and having “top” surgery. If Thomas really felt like man finally, after all of that, then why would he agree to carry a child? Are there different levels of being transgendered? Can you feel as though you are a man and still have certain female inclinations?

My thinking is that most transgendered people want to be known as the gender they have transformed into and not the gender they once were. I know certain individuals who say that they’ve worked so hard to gain their manhood that calling them “she” or “her” or even by their former name is a slap in the face.

If Thomas worked so hard to gain that manhood, why would he volunteer to do something that essentially makes his manhood null and void?

Some argue that gender is state of mind. So it could be said that Thomas is mentally a man but physically still a women. But with all the therapy and struggle it takes to carve out a distinctive male identity, you would think that becoming pregnant would cause certain emotional, mental and, without a doubt, physical strain.

I would like to clarify that I don’t look down on Thomas in any way, shape or form. But I do look at him, scratch my head, and wonder — is this really all for the sake of having a child?

Many men long to be a parent but I can’t name a single one who has the inherent need to carry a child in his belly.

For another point of view, read this column in the Boston Globe. Keep in mind that I don’t share the same views as the writer, but I do respect his opinion. I respect everyone’s opinion. Even yours. So leave me a comment and let me know what you think about the “pregnant man.”

pregnant man, boston globe, transgendered, thomas Lagondino, ripley’s believe it or not