Agencies

Los Angeles, Jul 5: Thomas Beatie, who was born a woman but after surgery and hormone treatment lives as a man, has given birth to a girl at an Oregon hospital, People magazine has reported.

Beatie, 34, who kept female reproductive organs after initiating a transgender transformation and legally changing his name from Tracy Lagondino in his 20s, confirmed the birth to the magazine.

The baby, conceived through artificial insemination using donor sperm and Beatie's own eggs, was born on June 29, and Beatie and the baby are "healthy and doing well," People reported. "The only thing different about me is that I can't breast-feed my baby. But a lot of mothers don't," People quoted Beatie as saying. He has had his breasts surgically removed.

He told the magazine that contrary to published reports, the baby was not delivered by Caesarean section, but no other details about the birth were given.

Beatie, when he was a female

Beatie made world headlines - and stoked public debate about the boundaries of gender identity - when he went public with his pregnancy during a guest appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in April, in which he was shown undergoing an ultrasound examination.

The thinly bearded Beatie told Winfrey then that he began his sexual transformation about 10 years ago when he started taking testosterone injections and had surgery to remove mammary glands and flatten his chest.

Roles defined:

Upon deciding to have a child about two years ago, he halted his bimonthly hormone injections and resumed menstruating.

Beatie, with his wife Nancy

Beatie's wife, Nancy, 46, whom he married five years ago, was unable to conceive because of a prior hysterectomy. Otherwise, he has said, "I wouldn't be doing this." His spouse has two grown daughters by a previous marriage. She said on Oprah that "He's going to be the father, and I'm going to be the mother."