The bearded lady and her baby
I’ve just discovered another class of persons whose courageous choices must be defended against bigotry: bearded breast-feeding ladies. No, this is not a side-show in Barnum & Bailey ; it’s a major feature in this week’s Time magazine which is being praised as “amazing, poignant, incredibly compelling, extraordinary, beautiful and honest.” Journalist Jessi Hempel describes the pregnancy of her transgender sister (who is living as a man). “My brother Evan was born female. He came out as transgender 16 years ago but never stopped wanting to have a baby.” Currently Evan has a scruffy beard, a shaved head, and heavy, milk-filled breasts to suckle her son. The black-and-white photo of the two is going viral on Twitter, but not necessarily to support the #transgender cause. It looks far more grotesque than the lurid circus posters of the 19th Century. Why is the essay poignant? Because it depicts Evan as a person who has finally fulfilled a dream, smashing through medic