Transgender Dad Gives Birth but Does Not Want To Be Called Mom

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By Lili Scott , Parent Herald Dec 26, 08:58 pm

Photo: (Photo : RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP via Getty Images)

A transgender dad expressed his disappointment for the medical staff, who kept calling him a mom when he gave birth to his son at a Los Angeles hospital in October 2020.

Bennett Kaspar-Williams, 37, transitioned around 2014 and eventually met Malik, his husband, in 2019. Kaspar-Williams had surgery on his breast as part of his transition but kept his genitalia. He was on testosterone hormone therapy for years to prevent the functions of his ovaries until he and Malik decided they would like to have a child together.

The transgender dad and his husband conceived naturally soon after Kaspar-Williams stopped his hormone treatment, and he gave birth to Hudson via caesarian section in October 2020. He believes, however, that womanhood and motherhood are two different things.

'A False Equivalency'

Speaking with Daily Mail, Kaspar-Williams said that it's high time people "stop defining 'womanhood' in terms of 'motherhood' because it's a false equivalency." He noted that not all women could bear children, and not all people who have children are moms. For this dad, his body is a tool that should not be stereotyped into a gender.

The father relayed that during his stay at the hospital, the nurses constantly misgendered him by calling him "ma'am" or "mom" and "mother" despite his full beard or flat chest. He even wrote "male" on all of his hospital forms, yet the staff refused to recognize that he's a man.

Kaspar-Williams said it was unavoidable to be misgendered in the hospital because the institution of pregnancy is centered around motherhood. However, Kaspar-Williams noted that he never felt "feminine" while he was pregnant. He also didn't feel any uneasiness or dissatisfaction about carrying his child.

Other Transgender Dads Who Had Babies

The dad is not the first man to get pregnant and give birth. In 2008, Thomas Beatie became famous for his guest appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show to talk about his pregnancy. At that time, not many people were familiar with transgender men. Beatie then went on to have more children the natural way with his then-wife before their divorce a few years later.

Myles Brady Davis of Chicago, who transitioned as a man, won his case to be listed as the "father" on his baby's birth certificate even though Illinois considers the person who gave birth to a child as the "mother." Davis's daughter, Zayn, was conceived via IVF after he stopped taking hormone pills. He used the sperm of his wife, Precious, a transgender woman.

In 2017, Trystan Reese of Portland gave birth to Leo, his son, with partner Biff Chaplow. They are already parents to two adopted kids from Chaplow's side of the family. Reese said that he was under medical supervision during the entire phase of his pregnancy.

Jesse Ballard and his wife Maria, both transgender, welcomed their baby in 2020. The family had help from the University of Michigan Health, where a few other transmasculine people have also gotten pregnant outside of their routine operations.