A transgender man and his husband have shared their journey to parenthood through pregnancy in an in-depth article series and short documentary by the Charlotte Observer.
Liam Johns had always wanted children, but had never found the right person with whom to begin a family. He had already started to try and become a single parent when he met Duane Danielson through a mutual friend. Initially, he told Danielson he was looking for a sperm donor, not a boyfriend. The two fell in love, however, and began to plan their family together.
Their story was run as a front-page, multi-part feature in the Observer, #TeamPregnantDad. Reporter Anna Douglas and videographer Diedra Laird spent more than a year chronicling their lives, through the first few months of their child’s life. I recommend reading the articles as well as watching the video—the articles weave in many more details about Johns’ transition, the couple’s extended family, their baby shower (theme: rainbows and unicorns), and more. They also discuss the hurdles Johns encountered at his health care provider and how the provider is now working to better serve transgender patients. (If you’re not an Observer subscriber, you may not be able to read all of the parts of the series for free—but a day pass is only $1, and it’s well worth it for this lengthy story.)
While he is far from the first transgender man to be pregnant, he told the Observer that he had a hard time finding information that was helpful to him in the process. “We knew we couldn’t be the only ones out there doing this, so we decided to share our story so people could have something to identify with.” Thanks to them for doing so, and to the Observer for running this.