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Trans dads tell doctors: ‘You can be a man and have a baby’

By Virgo Starlight on May 20, 2019 • ( 0 )

May 19, 2019, 1:39 AM CDT By Julie Compton

Transgender men say they face misinformation, bias and a lack of understanding from the medical establishment when they decide to start a family

When Jay Thomas, 33, decided he wanted to get pregnant in 2016, he spoke to his physician.

Thomas, a cook who lives in Louisville, Kentucky, explained to his doctor that he and his wife, Jamie Brewster, 33, a bank employee, are both transgender, and that he had been on testosterone for more than two years. The physician said Thomas had likely gone through early menopause, and that if they were able to conceive at all, he would have to go off the hormone for at least 18 months.

But none of that turned out to be true, according to Thomas, who gave birth to the couple’s son Dorian, 2, less than a year after that doctor’s appointment.

“We got pregnant in three months,” Thomas said.

One of the most persistent myths transgender men and nonbinary people hear from doctors is that testosterone has sterilized them, experts say. While testosterone does block ovulation, trans men can get pregnant if they are not taking it regularly.

It’s just one example of the misinformation and discouragement transgender men say they face from the medical establishment when they decide to get pregnant — a problem advocates and experts blame on a lack of training and research around transgender health care, as well as doctors’ biases.