CHICAGO, April 3 (UPI)

An Oregon transgendered man announced on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in Chicago he is pregnant with his first child, a daughter.

Thomas Beatie, 34, who was born a woman named Tracey and retained his female reproductive organs after becoming transgendered, said on Thursday’s episode of the popular talk show he is nearly 25 weeks pregnant with a baby sired by an anonymous sperm donor, the show’s producer, Harpo Productions, reported on its Web site.

“I see pregnancy as a process and it doesn’t define who I am. Ironically, being pregnant doesn’t make me feel any more female or feminine,” Beatie said.

Beatie, who took testosterone injections for several years to make his appearance more masculine, said he decided to bear the child because his wife, Nancy, who has two grown daughters from a previous relationship, is no longer able to become pregnant.

“If Nancy could get pregnant, I wouldn’t be doing this,” Beatie told People magazine. “Who hires a surrogate if they are perfectly capable of carrying their own child?”

Beatie said he isn’t worried about what other people think about the unconventional pregnancy.

“Love makes a family,” he said. “And that’s all that matters.”

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