Fodder for tabloid newspapers and gossip TV, the strange tale of Thomas Beatie and his wife has given us images of his swollen belly.

'The man who had a baby' will foster fresh dialogue on bigotry

A man became pregnant and gave birth to a healthy baby? To me, it's evolution in the 21st century, but doomsayers must feel the end is nigh.

Will it be of some relief for them to learn that this man used to be a woman, and that he's still anatomically capable of becoming pregnant? Or will it this explanation will give them heart failure?

In Thailand, people are more familiar with male-to-female transgenders - the katoey. They have long been a part of our culture.

There are many "toms" - butch females - but the vast majority see themselves as women and want to change gender. Phatcheera Klunsanit, a former Miss Thailand runner-up, is probably the only female-to-male transgender known to most Thais.

Thomas Beatie is also a trans man. He was born a female and was, incidentally, a former Miss Hawaii runner-up. After gender reassignment surgery, he legally became a man and married a woman just like any heterosexual male.

When the couple decided to have a baby through artificial insemination, Beatie had to be the one carrying the child because his wife of 10 years had had a hysterectomy due to a medical condition.

Now that their beautiful daughter has been born, she will grow up as the labour of love of two loving parents.  That's more than can be said for a lot of kids these days whose parents take them for granted.

Some worry that the child will be confused, but if we're serious about the mental health of the children, how about banning divorces? Studies have also shown that children raised by same-sex parents grew up without any problems.

In a world long governed by fixed, separate gender roles to which everyone is forced to conform - often through violence - Beatie's coming forward opens up space for people who feel that they've been born in a wrong body.

It also makes the world more interesting, with diversity beyond the usual "pre-packaged" men and women. End of the world? The world of bigotry, maybe.