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These Transgender Dads Just Made History

by Laura Hankin

Recently, two men in Great Britain made history in an incredible way. Hayden Cross and Scott Parker are in the news for becoming their country's first transgender dads to give birth. Both Cross, age 21, and Parker, age 23, put their gender transitions on hold so that they could complete their pregnancies, and now both men are the proud fathers of baby girls.

According to The Telegraph, Cross has been living as a man and taking hormones for over three years. Before completing his transition, he looked into freezing his eggs with the National Health Service, but the NHS wouldn't pay for it, and he couldn't afford a private service. Being a biological parent had always been incredibly important to him, so he decided to pause his transition, and found a sperm donor through Facebook.

After the birth of his daughter, Trinity-Leigh, Cross told The Sun how happy he was to be a father, saying,

All I have ever wanted is to be a dad. The feeling is even better than people describe. Being a dad all came naturally to me. As soon as I held her my paternal instincts just kicked in. I realise that for many women giving birth is the most fulfilling experience of their lives. But I don’t feel like a mum at all. I care for her as any single dad would.

When Cross gave birth, he was the first known transgender man in Great Britain to do so, but soon after the press began reporting on him, Parker came forward to say that he had actually given birth to a daughter, Sara, seven weeks earlier. Parker had not planned his pregnancy in the same way that Cross did — reportedly, it was the result of a one-off encounter with a friend — but he also greeted the opportunity with joy, and paused his transition to see it through.

Transgender men who get pregnant are often met with obstacles and confusion. A story about an American man who gave birth detailed some of the challenges he faced, from the difficulty of explaining his pregnancy to co-workers who had always assumed he was born a man, to issues with getting his insurance company to cover certain services because he was listed as a man on his documents. Parker, for his part, reportedly fought to be listed as the father on his daughter's birth certificate, but is registered as her mother instead.

Unfortunately, while many people have been quick to congratulate him, Cross has also reportedly received death threats from trolls since his news went public.

Hopefully Parker and Cross are leading the way into a more accepting world. Congratulations to them on the births of their daughters, and for showing that there are many ways to make a family.