In early 1997, Beatie came out as a trans man Beatie had gender reassignment surgery in March 2002 and became known as "the pregnant man" after he became pregnant through artificial insemination in 2007. Beatie chose to be pregnant because his wife Nancy was infertile, doing so with cryogenic donated sperm. Beatie has since given birth to three children.



The couple filed for divorce in 2012. The Beatie case is the first of its kind on record, where a documented legal male gave birth within a heterosexual marriage to a woman, and for the first time, a court challenged a marriage where the husband gave birth.

Early life

Born Tracy LaGondino, Beatie grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii , the first of two children. Beatie's mother was from San Francisco, and of English , Irish, Scottish, and Welsh descent. His father, of Korean and Filipino descent, was born and raised in Hawaii.

Beatie writes that he started to self-identify with the male gender at age ten. As a teenager, Beatie was a model and Miss Hawaii Teen USA pageant finalist.

In 1996, Beatie graduated from the University of Hawaii with a bachelor's degree in health science (pre-med) and later pursued an Executive MBA. He competed in full-contact fighting and was a black belt and tournament champion in Taekwondo .

Transition

In March 2002, Beatie underwent sex reassignment surgery involving a double mastectomy , also known as "top surgery", and officially changed his sex marker from "female" to "male" on his state and federal identity documents. Prior to marriage he officially changed his name, choosing Trace as a middle name based on his birth name, Tracy.

Beatie married Nancy Gillespie in a legally valid heterosexual marriage in Hawaii on February 5, 2003. [14] Beatie was also listed as "male" on his health and life insurance policies. The couple moved to Bend, Oregon in 2005.

When the two decided to start a family, Beatie chose to carry the child, since Nancy was unable due to a prior hysterectomy . He was able to become pregnant, having retained his female reproductive organs.Beatie suspended

testosterone hormone treatment in order to conceive twice with donor sperm, delivering both children without complications.

In February 2012, Beatie elected to have "lower" surgery , including the creation of a functional penis. The procedure, performed by transgender surgeon Marci Bowers , was documented on his second appearance of The Doctors , in 2012. The procedure, called a ring metoidioplasty , included transfer of tissue, elongation of the hormonally enlarged phallus, as well as urethral construction and lengthening.