Minh Khang with his new baby. (Vietnam Insider)
Vietnam’s ‘first trans dad’ has given birth to a baby, with his wife at his side.
Minh Khang and Minh Anh became parents on May 16, to baby girl Thiên An.
Khang, 24, and Anh, 21, are a well-known trans couple in Vietnam, who met in 2017 at a trans beauty contest.
Vietnamese media report that Khang is the first trans man in the country to give birth, having stopped taking hormones for three months to get pregnant.
Sharing their happy news on social media, Anh said that their baby girl was born at a beauty salon in Ho Chi Minh city.
She was born by caesarean section, weighed 2.3kg and is in good health, Anh added.
On March 8, the couple were guests on TV show “Come Out – Bước ra ánh sáng” (Come out to the light), calling on the public and healthcare centres in Vietnam to support couples like them realise the dream of being parents.
Trans dad: Men who give birth.
In 2018, 22 trans men gave birth in Australia, according to official government figures.
They add to the 228 trans men who have given birth in Australia in the last decade – figures which highlight that trans men giving birth is not a new phenomenon.
The data regarding the number of trans men who’ve given birth in Australia happened as Seahorse, a film about a trans man’s pregnancy, screened at the 2019 Melbourne International Film Festival.
The new documentary, by the BBC in association with the Guardian, follows trans dad Freddy McConnell over three years, from trying to conceive to eventually giving birth.
McConnell is a gay trans man and Guardian journalist who chose to suspend his hormone treatment to carry his own baby. He is a “seahorse dad”.
The film banished the myth that a trans person is made infertile by taking hormones, although this can sometimes be the case.