"Good Morning America" on Wednesday continued to aggressively promote the story of the pregnant "man," featuring the show's sixth story since March 26. Once again, GMA co-host Chris Cuomo confusingly described the story of Thomas Beatie, a woman who took testosterone and had her breasts removed in a gender reassignment surgery in order to become a man.
On Wednesday, Cuomo explained, "The pregnant man, Thomas Beatie. He made headlines across the globe. Well, now, Beatie, who is biologically still a woman, has delivered a healthy baby." So, in other words, a woman gave birth to a baby? Perhaps describing the situation that way wouldn't have allowed GMA to devote six stories (thus far) to the topic. The segment was full of such puzzling statements. An ABC graphic screamed, "Pregnant Man's Baby: First Pictures of Susan Juliette." At one point, reporter Andrea Canning stated that Beatie, born Tracy LaGondino, had her breasts surgically removed and then, "...Still hoping to one day have a child, Thomas kept his female reproductive organs." His female reproductive organs?
The piece contained the same non-judgmental tone of the last five stories. Reporter Canning talked with People editor Patrick Rogers. (The magazine will feature baby pictures in its upcoming issue.) Rogers relayed Beatie's contention that, "Look at this baby. I know there's prejudice out there, but can anyone have hard feelings against this child right here?" At no time did Cuomo or Canning feature anyone questioning whether it was Beatie who would be subjecting this new baby girl to cruelty by choosing to engage in such spectacle.
On March 26, when Cuomo first anchored a segment on the story, he bubbled, "Oddity aside, biology aside, it is all about love of this child and as long as that's present, everything else is really going to be normal." On June 9, GMA correspondent Ryan Owens spouted platitudes such as "Today, Thomas says, different is normal." and "Love makes a family, he [Beatie] says, and that's all that matters."
So it was mildly surprising that on Wednesday's program, Cuomo ended the segment by mentioning his five-year-old daughter: "I can't wait for the next round of questions from Bella about all of this. What these pictures mean." Perhaps Bella shouldn't watch GMA.
A transcript of the July 23 segment, which aired at 7:37am, follows:
CHRIS CUOMO: We turn now to the story that continues to captivate and confuse. The pregnant man, Thomas Beatie. He made headlines across the globe. Well, now, Beatie, who is biologically still a woman, has delivered a healthy baby. In a People magazine, GMA exclusive, we have the first pictures of his new daughter featured in the People magazine on newsstands this Friday. And with it all is ABC's Andrea Canning. Good morning, Andrea.
ABC GRAPHIC: Pregnant Man's Baby: First Pictures of Susan Juliette
ANDREA CANNING: Good morning, Chris. Thomas Beatie, who began life as a female before undergoing a gender change in his 20s gave birth to a healthy, nine pound-five ounce baby girl named Susan Juliette. He and his wife are so excited about, quote, "daddy's little princess." Beatie said he hasn't even had time to catch his breath. Susan Juliette Beatie was born at 8:55 on a Sunday evening after her father endured 40 long hours of labor.
PATRICK ROGERS (Senior editor, People magazine): Thomas rode out the first 24 hours at home. His wife Nancy was his coach and then they went to the hospital where a midwife delivered the baby. It was not a C-section. It was a vaginal birth. Susan comes from Thomas' mother's name. Juliette is his wife Nancy's middle name. She weighed nine pounds and five ounces. So she was a big baby. Perfectly healthy.
CANNING: Four days later, the couple took their baby girl home to begin their new life as a family.
ROGERS: The baby sleeps all day and is up during the night. Nancy, who is 46 years old, is actually breast-feeding the child through a process called induced lactation that allows her to breast feed the child. Thomas will feed, feed their daughter with a bottle, with pumped breast milk and mainly he's just got the traditional role of a husband.
CANNING: Like any father, Thomas can't help but brag about his new daughter.
ROGERS: Thomas tells us he knows the personality of his daughter already, that she's intelligent and he says that she looks just like him, just like the mother.
CANNING: Thomas Beatie first made headlines five months ago when news of his pregnancy first became public. Born Tracy LaGondino, he began his transition at 24, taking testosterone and having his breasts surgically removed. But still hoping to one day have a child, Thomas kept his female reproductive organs. After meeting Nancy who couldn't conceive, the couple decided to inseminate him with donor sperm. Since then, the Beaties have faced a whirlwind of criticism for their decision, criticism they addressed with Oprah Winfrey.
THOMAS BEATIE: I feel it's not a male or female desire to want to have a child. It's a human desire.
OPRAH WINFREY: Okay.
BEATIE: And I'm a human and I have a right to have my own biological child.
CANNING: And now at three and a half weeks old, the daughter of the so-called pregnant man has made her public debut.
ROGERS: I think the Beaties are worried about how the world will receive their child but have been up very front about what they're doing and Thomas told us, you know, "Look at this baby. I know there's prejudice out there, but can anyone have hard feelings against this child right here?"
CANNING: And Nancy's two adult kids from her first marriage are on their way to Oregon to meet their new sibling and maybe do a little baby-sitting.
CUOMO: That'll be great. I can't wait for the next round of questions from Bella about all of this. What these pictures mean.
CANNING: That's a tough one, Chris.
CUOMO: You're telling me. For all of you, if want to read more about all of this, you can go to this week's People magazine. It'll be on newsstands this Friday.
—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.




















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you should've highlighted this as well
July 23, 2008 - 16:06 ET by mbuel"CANNING: Thomas Beatie first made headlines five months ago when news of his pregnancy first became public. Born
Tracy LaGondino, he began his transition at 24, taking testosterone and
having his breasts surgically removed. But still hoping to one day have
a child, Thomas kept his female reproductive organs. After meeting
Nancy who couldn't conceive, the couple decided to inseminate him with
donor sperm. Since then, the Beaties have faced a whirlwind of
criticism for their decision, criticism they addressed with Oprah
Winfrey."
Inseminating men with donor sperm will do nothing, besides making most men feel uncomfortable.
This story is ridiculous, and proves the adage; "Liberalism is a mental disorder", correct in all it's aggregate roughness.
Just because the women THINKS she is a man, and has adopted a male name, does not make her a man...
In other words; If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck it's a duck... unless you're a liberal then it's a turkey.
Is this the best ABC can come up with?
July 23, 2008 - 18:54 ET by goldenthroatWhen they have to resort to tabloid television just to have something to talk about, then it must have been an extremely slow news day at ABC!
"Everything you know is wrong!" - Firesign Theatre
At best this "man" is an
July 23, 2008 - 16:15 ET by ForeverOnTheRightAt best this "man" is an "it" the correct term that correctly describes this "it" excapes me. I wish that GMA et al, would stop calling this "it" a man. They just have a facination with this freak who should be locked up in an assylum for the mentally ill.
All of the cells in this
July 23, 2008 - 16:15 ET by NBFAll of the cells in this woman's body have female DNA.
Any "news" outlet portraying this person as a man has forfeited any journalistic credentials and has crossed over into sensationalistic deception.
Apologies to any female
July 23, 2008 - 16:19 ET by SickofLibsApologies to any female NBers who might be offended by this, but according to Cuomo and ABC if you've had a mastectomy you're now a MAN.
That is precisely what ABC is implying. KNOCK IT THE-F OFF, ALREADY!
Calling her a man is inaccurate
July 23, 2008 - 16:42 ET by SPCOlympicsShe should properly be referred to as a "hairy self-mutilated woman".
Of course, then she would be indistinguishable from half of Code Pink...
How Vile, how Tedious, how Sick and Disgusting
July 23, 2008 - 16:54 ET by Seabeach4348The "IT" says: "Look at this baby. I know there's prejudice out there, but can anyone have hard feelings against this child right here?"
My heart goes out to this poor, unfortunate little girl! Nobody has ill feelings against the child, Beatie, you dumb, selfish ass! The only victim here is the child!
This whole thing makes me nauseaous, and they way the idiots in the media portray it, like there's nothing wrong with the picture, is what really makes me mad!
Oh I made a mistake
July 23, 2008 - 17:07 ET by Redrowan2000I thought this was a story on Chris Matthews.
"Don't let the bastards grind you down."
Red
Pseudo-man
July 23, 2008 - 17:31 ET by RexRuthlessThis pseudo-man, a woman with some male secondary sex characteristics induced by the use of our hormone, is a great symbol of how far denigrating males has gone.
Apparently, all the women and all the apparent male journalists are content with their deconstructed, socially-derived definition of masculinity and manhood.
I pity the sons of these women and men and the women who will be their life partners in marriage or otherwise.
They think that the half-masculine is the cure for the wrongs of our half of the race, as if half-men would only be half as bad when weakness as a cure for misused strength is just another occasion for tragic outcomes.
Manhood is an attained state, a combination of physiological and psychological factors. It ain't automatic and it ain't all that common that we can attribute manhood to half the populace.
Maybe I should stop now before I need to be censored.
"ABC Again Touts Tale of
July 23, 2008 - 17:35 ET by jdhawk"ABC Again Touts Tale of Man Who 'Kept His Female Reproductive Organs'"
Should read, "ABC Again Touts Tale of Journalist Who Forgot Her Brain Organ at the Alter of Liberalism."
I'll say it again - by
July 23, 2008 - 17:38 ET by Darth DutchI'll say it again - by these standards, if I were to take estrogen and grow breasts, but then decide to impregnate a female, they would have to say that I am the first woman to impregnate another woman, right? I mean I have "kept" my male reproductive parts, but am still considered a woman - the complete flip flop of this case. And they wonder why people are abandoning the "old media" in droves.
And I love Cuomo's quote - "Oddity aside, biology aside,..." Oh those pesky things like biology, they always seem to get in the way! Words (and reproductive organs) have meaning people!
Darth Dutch
surgically mutliated woman/man
July 23, 2008 - 18:49 ET by lgeubankI think travesties like that are what the Bible calls "abominations." Crimes against nature, horrendous evils -- it's hard to come up with a term to briefly describe these shudder-inducing monstrosities.
Doesn't the Hippocratic Oath prevent doctors from committing atrocities like this?
Abomination is correct, I
July 23, 2008 - 19:17 ET by Eileen RightAbomination is correct,
I do find it troubling that “Since
then, the Beaties have faced a whirlwind of criticism for their
decision, criticism they addressed with Oprah Winfrey.”
So if it's on Oprah it must be okay. If
a NAMBLA rep went on Oprah wanting a child, I guess Cuomo would be
okay with that.
Perhaps I'm being an
July 23, 2008 - 20:18 ET by clarkfkPerhaps I'm being an ignoramus here... but doesn't the word "womb" somehow tie in, etymologically speaking, to the word "woman?"
Are they trying to say that gender is a state of mind? Last time I looked, the very genetic makeup of the human body was the determining factor in sex...
Ok I am really confused here
July 23, 2008 - 20:51 ET by I.am.DILLIGAFlet me get this straight <no pun intended> we have a woman that a LONG time ago wanted to be a man so she had her boobs cut off then took a bunch of testosterone and other drugs to become a man. But she hasnt had that all defining surgery to put on a schwartz so she, he, it could have a baby. It now calls itself a man but (and I quote)" It was not a C-section. It was a vaginal birth.
So with female DNA no schwartz and a vaginal birth how can It call itself a man. Even with a schwartz put on it will still have female DNA and will till the day it dies. This is not only discusting and a non story but I really feel sorry for the little girl growing up there.
Guns and Violence are not the answer but they are one solution to the problem== SARG
Susan, I am your father
July 24, 2008 - 08:47 ET by mom_roxAlso, I'm your mother. Nancy? She's also your mother, but I'm your biological mother plus your father. Some other guy is your biological father. Got that? Good, now go back to sleep.
iad - I agree with you about their daughter - best wishes to her.
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw, 1944
Crazy
July 23, 2008 - 21:07 ET by Copperhead RidgeABC has dedicated more time to this she/he having a baby than it did to McCain's European trip.
Other than themselves does anyone take the MSM seriously these days?
Well said NBF and Darth Dutch
July 23, 2008 - 21:29 ET by TDVABC News is now, officially, junk journalism.
Just one little thing that
July 23, 2008 - 23:08 ET by BuxomAnnieMcGreggorJust one little thing that proves he is still (and always will be) a
female...... DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID. What a waste of money for cosmetic
surgery... what a waste of air time in terms of "newsworthiness" ...
and what a psycho freak case...... (somewhere... deep in the bowels of
the psych ward a "Dr." is laughing all the way to the bank.)
Heilige Scheiße! How do you turn this damned thing off? -J. Robert Oppenheimer
Not meaning to pick nits...
July 24, 2008 - 00:57 ET by on-the-rocksbut it ain't a "he", it's a "she-it".
Yeah, nothing but a bunch of she-it.
ABC and other media entities are trying to give this story an air of legitimacy. And then they blame the public for their revulsion at this stuff being thrown in our faces. No wonder the Muslims hate us.