We know from experience there’s only so much you can cram into a headline, so we’re certainly not going to judge anyone who needs just a little more information to figure out exactly what CNN is going on about here:
Transgender man, assigned the female gender at birth, gives birth to a healthy baby boy https://t.co/vMZEN9oyVe pic.twitter.com/IYR1M5oRzj
— CNN (@CNN) July 31, 2017
Of course, in an effort to appear “woke,” CNN’s Nancy Coleman glosses over some of the details that might befuddle those whose more traditional concept of gender hasn’t been brought up to date by repeated viewings of the musical number “My Sex Junk” on “Bill Nye Saves the World”:
[Trystan] Reese, who was assigned the female gender at birth, posted a video in March explaining his decision to carry a baby as a transgender man.
“I’m OK with my body being a trans body,” he said. “I’m OK being a man who has a uterus and has the capacity and capability of carrying a baby.”
Reese told CNN in June that he had stopped taking testosterone to prepare for the pregnancy.
“We’ve been under medical supervision the entire time,” he said, “to make it as healthy and safe as possible.”
So, Reese is a man who happens to have a uterus, and that’s what made him able to give birth.
As smoothly as CNN handled the use of pronouns in its reporting, Erick Erickson did note something in the headline that wasn’t quite as woke as it could have been:
Notice CNN is assigning gender to the baby. https://t.co/CkEnUEvfIy
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) July 31, 2017
He has a point; it was only a few weeks ago that a couple in Canada was celebrating “a huge step forward” for human rights: the receipt of their child’s birth ID with a letter “U” next to “Sex.” They were so woke, they fought to keep the baby’s sex off of government documents, arguing that, for now, “they’re just a baby.”
In this case, however, the transgender man who gave birth isn’t hesitating to show of his son, a healthy baby boy.
Did they just assume the baby's gender?
— Views Of An Alpha (@ViewsOfAnAlpha) July 31, 2017
But they assigned a gender to their own baby #doublestandard
— Kimberlee Vroom (@kimmeejv) July 31, 2017
I was just thinking that.
— Mrs Plum (@Missplumbum) July 31, 2017
How do you know it's a boy.
— rainman (@ms1brinker) July 31, 2017
— Ian Comrie (@Dot_Comrie) July 31, 2017
— RDB (@rdzblzc) July 31, 2017
So the child is assumed a boy because it hasn't reassigned its own gender? What makes this child a boy? Perspective or science?
— KJR (@Smilewithkyle) July 31, 2017
How does @CNN know the baby is a "boy", just because it has a penis?? CNN is hateful and intolerant of the 634 known genders.
— MK (@opusonekenobi) July 31, 2017
ABC News’ Matthew Dowd, who has shed all party labels to free himself to be the most effective scold on social media he can be, wasn’t amused by Erickson’s observation.
I don't think you understand the term transgender.
— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) July 31, 2017
How can you just assume the baby's gender Matthew? They/them needs time to decide on their own.
— greg (@giggitygreg) July 31, 2017
He’s not wrong — that’s where this is headed next. Couples like the one in Canada are leading the way, and they’re certainly not the only ones we’ve heard arguing that children should be raised free of all gender stereotypes so they can decide for themselves free of societal norms.
So, just as a rough estimate: how many years will it be until Dowd’s response is widely considered to be close-minded and hateful?
The nerve. The baby hasn't even had a chance to decide for itself what gender it wants to be.
— Rep. Adam Jarchow (@AdamJarchow28) July 31, 2017
* * *
Related:
‘You can never be woke enough’: Cecile Richards gets called out for her stance on transgender ‘brothers and sisters’ https://t.co/htgr1woJOJ
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 27, 2017
