Sex-change law questions arise after man says he's pregnant

The Oregonian ^ | 3/27/08 | DON COLBURN

[XR7]

Thousands of Oregonians a year change their names. But the case of a Bend resident who says he is legally male and five months pregnant has highlighted the much smaller numbers who legally change their sex.

That option exists in Oregon, as in most states, for transsexuals who switch genders.

"Oregon's law is very typical," said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco.

The crux of the decades-old law is one sentence. The same court with jurisdiction over legal name changes "may order a legal change of sex and enter a judgment indicating the change of sex of a person whose sex has been changed by surgical procedure."

The law does not define "surgical procedure" or specify what sort of anatomical change, if any, is required.

"There's no specific requirement in the law that there be a letter from a surgeon," said Lake James Perriguey, a Portland attorney who specializes in sex-discrimination cases. "A specific judge might want to see a letter, but that's it."

Perriguey said he takes up to 10 legal sex-change cases a year. He always includes a surgeon's letter as documentation of the sex change. He said he knows of cases in which a person received a legal change of sex on the basis of facial reconstruction.

The high-profile Bend case involves Thomas Beatie, who says he was born female but identifies as a male.

In a first-person account this month in The Advocate, a gay publication, Beatie said he legally changed his name and sex about 10 years ago in Hawaii. He underwent a double mastectomy and started testosterone injections, he said, but kept female reproductive organs.

A couple of years ago, after moving to Oregon, Beatie said that he and his wife, Nancy, decided to have a child. Because Nancy couldn't conceive, Beatie told The Advocate he stopped taking testosterone to allow his menstrual cycle to resume, and became pregnant through artificial insemination.

No one knows how many people legally change their sex, said Minter, the legal director for lesbian rights. "It's a very small population."

Perriguey said it would be highly unusual for a person to undergo a legal sex change to gain rights or financial benefits, such as health coverage through a spouse.

"There might be some who would try that," he said, "but when people choose to live as another gender, they're not doing it for collateral benefits."

Beatie declined to answer questions from The Oregonian this week, saying he had an exclusive contract with another media outlet. But The Advocate spoke repeatedly with Beatie before publication and insisted on talking with his obstetrician-gynecologist to verify the pregnancy and other medical details, deputy editor Rachel Dowd told The Oregonian.

"We had some questions," she said. "Pregnancy -- that was the big one."

Beatie is not the first legal male to become pregnant, she said. "But for some reason, this one has taken off."

[jayden246]

Actually, the blood and saliva would indicate male because of the testosterone injections...

[jayden246]

I agree, that can’t be safe for the baby...I don’t think she should be allowed to do this! It’s dangerous and creepy. If she wants to be a real man, why did she get pregnant?

“He” is not even a real transgender person, I heard this story, she is a lesbian who changed legal sex so she could get married to her wife, Nancy, and now this is a publicity stunt! It’s sad that freaks like this are going around giving bad names to real trans people.

I have a brother who’s transexual and you couldn’t tell because he lives like a normal person, not like this creep! Please don’t label all transgenders with this woman, they really are just trying to live normally and not bother anyone.