NEW YORK: Thomas Beatie, a US man who was born female, underwent gender realignment surgery and is now pregnant, has sparked renewed debate in the United States about the rights of transgender individuals.

Beatie, who is legally male but decided to keep his female sex organs during chest reconstruction surgery and testosterone therapy, has appeared in several magazines and on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show since revealing that he is pregnant.

“I feel it’s not a male or female desire to have a child. It’s a human need. I’m a person and I have the right to have a biological child,” Beatie told chat show host Winfrey this week, sporting a light beard.

His unusual situation first became public when he wrote an article in the US magazine The Advocate last month, entitled “Labor of Love.””To our neighbours, my wife, Nancy, and I don’t appear in the least unusual,” he wrote, explaining that his wife was unable to have a child after undergoing a hysterectomy and that they had conceived by artificial insemination.

“Our situation sparks legal, political, and social unknowns,” Beatie wrote, adding the couple had experienced opposition from health care professionals, friends and family.

One doctor refused to treat the couple, after consulting an ethics board.

“How does it feel to be a pregnant man? Incredible. Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am,” Beatie wrote.

While some have come out in support of Beatie’s right to bear a child, and decried the discrimination that Beatie and other transgender individuals are up against, others have been less supportive.

“Seriously, how selfish Beatie is. He is not able to breastfeed, guaranteed, which is the single, most important thing you can do for your child nutrition-wise,” said one letter-writer in the Advocate.

“It’s called ‘childbirth’ and it is a ‘female’ thing — not a ‘male’ thing. Period,” wrote another.—AFP