In case you missed it, ABC aired a 20/20 called "What is A Man? What is A Woman?" I missed it because I was out with the Well couples at Chez Pierre and I had such a great time! But I've read about it this morning.
To catch you up, Thomas Beaty, who used to be Tracy Beaty, married Nancy, who was 10 years older than him and already had two children from a previous marriage. Nancy knew that Thomas used to be Tracy but their relationship was a lesbian relationship. Are you following me so far? A few years in, they decided they wanted to start a family and since Nancy had already had a hysterectomy and they wanted their child to be related to them, it was only logical that Thomas inseminate him/herself (he had not completely removed all his woman parts) and carry the baby. Yes of course, it all makes sense now.
Susan Beaty was born June 29 and now Thomas is pregnant again.
The unbelievable thing is the great lengths these people are going through to be a "normal" family. Thomas said he was paving the way for more men to become pregnant. Is that odd and slightly sickening to anyone else? When he said that he just didn't think people were used to seeing a man pregnant, I wanted to scream "THAT'S BECAUSE MEN CAN'T GET PREGNANT!!!!" The effects of this are enormous. For Thomas and Nancy, it was an ordeal just getting the birth certificate to state the relationships that they wanted. By Oregon law, the person listed as "mother" is the person who gives birth to the baby (the nerve of them to generalize like that!). But Thomas wanted to be listed as the father and Nancy as the mother. So they finally listed them as "parent/parent".
I have to hand it to Thomas, he did go through 40 hours of labor (compared to my measley 28) and had the baby naturally, not via c-section. And now he voluntarily is doing it again. I must say, it took me about a year after Tommy was born before I wasn't afraid I might actually die in labor whenever I do it again.
My question is, will we get to the point where it's no longer the norm for a woman to give birth? Will the Women's Pavillion at THM have to change its name because it's sexist? To answer this issue biblically, I don't even know where to begin. Obviously this man/woman is hurting and has dealt with a lot of pain. But God heals instense pain. I think this also is a great indication of how much the Fall affects us today.
After reading the story and watching the clip, I'm still stunned and have a million questions and statements but can't find the words to express them. Confusion. Sadness. Bewilderment. What do you think?
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