Thomas Beatie, "the pregnant man," gave birth to a baby girl last week. Beatie is a transgendered man, born Tracy Lagondino and a former model and Miss Hawaii Teen pageant contestant, who underwent gender reassignment surgery (though, importantly, retained his female reproductive organs) and legally changed genders and in 2003 married his wife Nancy, a divorced mother of two. Beatie had his breasts surgically removed and began twice-weekly testosterone treatments. He stopped taking testosterone about two years ago when he decided to get pregnant via artificial insemination using his own eggs.

Beatie is not the first transgendered man to give birth, but most others have preferred secrecy to the media glare. Beatie's willingness to tell his story — including an appearance on "Oprah" — brought dramatic attention to the phenomenon and with it quite a bit of criticism.

It has raised the question in general about what defines motherhood and fatherhood. It has also unleashed a debate among the transgender community over whether The Pregnant Man was beneficial to transgender awareness, or just another unfortunate sideshow in the media circus.