Man... woman... transgender... confused... I don't care about those terms. The adjectives I would use to label this... uh... person: selfish, ass.

Now, I'm not all that big on having children anyway, especially when there are so many out there that need adoption, but this is ridiculous. This person is putting her desires above those of a child that is going to have a very difficult life. I feel the same about parents who are impoverished but decide to have 6 children. Yes, the child may be loved. No, love is NOT enough. Go to junior high school where I did with a screwed up family and you'll learn that.

And no, I won't call her a him. She is not a male. She has a vagina and XX chromosomes. She is no more a male than I am a unicorn if I want to be and have a horn implanted on my forehead.

a woman that can drive and also read a map what a perfect person. a new baby girl to color your worls with

sunshine

This woman is thoroughly confused and indecisive. She wants to be male but "keep her reproductive rights"? WHo says being male deprives any man of his reproductive rights?

And the media dignifies this madness with worldwide attention by proclaiming that a man has given birth? A woman is a man just because she cuts off her breasts and takes some hormones? The author might as well think he has become a gorilla because he wears a fur coat and eats bananas!

Gender is like your race. You can deny it all you want; it sticks with you anywhere you go. Ask Michael Jackson, Tiger Woods and many others who tried to get away from their blackness. It goes deeper than your skin.

ddave:

This woman is thoroughly confused and indecisive. She wants to be male but "keep her reproductive rights"? WHo says being male deprives any man of his reproductive rights?

And the media dignifies this madness with worldwide attention by proclaiming that a man has given birth? A woman is a man just because she cuts off her breasts and takes some hormones? The author might as well think he has become a gorilla because he wears a fur coat and eats bananas!

Gender is like your race. You can deny it all you want; it sticks with you anywhere you go. Ask Michael Jackson, Tiger Woods and many others who tried to get away from their blackness. It goes deeper than your skin.

You do realize that 'race' is an entirely made up concept? Because by your logic, if gender is like race, then it's really just a made up and cosmetic idea that only matters because we are used to it mattering.

You are undercutting your own point of view is what I'm saying.

Well...not really. Our perception of race is a made-up concept, but persons of African descent are still prone to sickle-cell anemia, and Asians are more likely to be lactose intolerant.

In the same way, while the new father may consider himself male, and be legally male, and treated as male, he is still capable of passing genetic defects down to his offspring on his X chromesome, like haemophilia or muscular dystrophy. This is because genetically, he is still female.

I am completely supportive of folks who want to change their apparent gender, but let's stop this "miracle baby" crap. If my pre-op MTF cousin R. came running up, and said "I'm a woman now, but I can still write my name in the snow! It's a MIRACLE!" I would gently tell her that is not a miracle, it is a penis. She can still write her name in the snow because she has not had her penis removed yet.

In the same way, this is not a miracle. That is a uterus; it is for producing babies. A miracle would be someone WITHOUT a uterus producing a baby.

I think the kid will be fine, the only danger I can see is that the parents are such publicity hogs that the kid may grow to hate the limelight. Kids are resilient, they usually end up fine.

Although I do agree with the OP about adoption.

Freki

ep thorn:

And no, I won't call her a him. She is not a male. She has a vagina and XX chromosomes. She is no more a male than I am a unicorn if I want to be and have a horn implanted on my forehead.

DON'T IMPLANT A HORN ON YOUR HEAD! If you do, you WILL be called a unicorn, and as such they'll take away your driver's license, social security card, etc., as those are only given to humans.

Please rethink having that horn placed, regardless of your trans-species identification, the horrors of being labeled as a non-human are too great to contemplate.

Bondsman, you bigot. Are you saying Ma Zhong Nan isn't a person? For shame ; )

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Freki

Freki:

Bondsman, you bigot. Are you saying Ma Zhong Nan isn't a person? For shame ; )

<link>

Freki

Well, it's not ME saying it exactly, but I bet the Chinese government has already taken away his driver's license and I highly doubt he has a social security card....

Biology is great, isn't it? The diversity of life is amazing! :-)

Why will the child have a difficult life? Because society is filled with ignorant, pinheaded bigots?

Let me see if I get this logic: "We out here in the world so disapprove of you that we're going to take it out on your child, therefore it is selfish of you to have a child knowing that we all are going to abuse him."

Well, how very morally superior of you. The same things were said, by the way, of interracial families. Are interracial couples "selfish" when they have children just because there are racist bullies in the world?

From the looks of it, this child will be raised by two loving, caring parents. Shame on you for calling that "selfish" when so many kids are abused and neglected by so-called "normal" parents.

But, if you're so concerned, tell you what: they can move here, to San Francisco, where we have REAL family values and don't torment children just because their parents don't fit our image of "normal."

You obviously have no scientific background. Race is very much a true concept. Obviously, there are differences that are visible. But there are also very real genetic differences between and Black, Native American, Asian and White man.

There is no such thing as race. Good lord, folks. There's only inbreeding, which is why some groups are slightly more likely to inherit some diseases. And as soon as we stop believing that race is anything other than a fiction, the inbreeding is gonna stop pretty quick.

By your definition, Queen Victoria's family is a race.

Holy $hit, pick up a science book! Race is as real as gender differences. The genetic makeup of a black person to an asain person is very similar however, slightly different.

Do you need proof in nature? How about brown and grizzly bears. They are derived from the same ancestor, they can breed together, but they are a different 'race,' we just call it species when we talk about animals.

Species =/= race in humans. They are not remotely similar.

Seriously, go to Wikipedia if you need to. Race is a fiction, and has referred variously to national identity, ethnic identity and some forms of human genetic variations over the centuries. The only reason why the concept persists is because we've used race as a proxy for culture and tribe for about as long as we've existed.

There is no arab/asian/black genome. It's just as dumb as saying that blonde people and brunettes are separate races.

Sickday:

Species =/= race in humans. They are not remotely similar.

Seriously, go to Wikipedia if you need to. Race is a fiction, and has referred variously to national identity, ethnic identity and some forms of human genetic variations over the centuries. The only reason why the concept persists is because we've used race as a proxy for culture and tribe for about as long as we've existed.

There is no arab/asian/black genome. It's just as dumb as saying that blonde people and brunettes are separate races.

This would seem to imply that two black people can have white children/two white people can have black children without any previous mix of the races involved, would it not?

Are you aware of this ever taking place, again, without any previous mix of the races involved?

I don't understand the argument of the initial post. If Thomas Beattie had chosen NOT to have his child, then the child would not exist at all. Do you really believe that a child raised by these apparently loving parents - who made extraordinary personal sacrifices to bring her into the world - has a life worse than not existing at all? Why would you think that?

Fine, you had a screwed up family when you went to junior high school. (Incidentally, who says this family is screwed up?) I'm sure it wasn't much fun for you. So would you prefer that you never existed?