photo courtesy NY Daily News

Oprah Winfrey called it a “new definition of what diversity means for everybody.”
In an interview on her show Thursday, a transgender man who is pregnant told the nation he always wanted a child and considers it a miracle. People Magazine first picked up Beatie’s story and has a full spread on him on newsstands Friday, April 4th.

Here’s the background;
34-year old Thomas Beatie, a one time pageant queen, says he decided to become a man 10 years ago, taking testosterone treatments and having breast surgery to remove glands and flatten his chest. He says he kept his reproductive organs knowing he wanted a child one day. That one-day happened 6 months ago when his wife Nancy inseminated him using a syringe of sperm from a donor bank. Beatie says he stopped taking testosterone 2 years ago, and his hormone levels are normal. The happy couple also says their roles in raising the child won’t change. Nancy will be mommy Thomas will be daddy.

What his doctor says;
First, Beatie says he was turned down by several other doctors before Dr. Kimberly James, a doctor in the couple’s Oregon town, decided to pick Thomas up. Dr. James says the baby is totally healthy, and it is a normal pregnancy.

Arguments of course have erupted over this story.
Some are wondering if they are bringing the child into a healthy environment or will their be confusion because daddy gave birth. Others are wondering why the couple are parading themselves before the media and seeking out attention. To that, the couple has said they wanted to release the news on their own terms, instead of having it spread after the baby is born. By the way.. it’s a girl.

Whether good or bad, I want to hear your thoughts on this story.

Here’s a scary thought. By 2050, we will be having sex with robots, even marrying them. That’s the prediction of chess master turned artificial-intelligence expert David Levy.

In his new book, Love and Sex With Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships, Levy writes technology is advancing so fast that one day there will be robots so lifelike we won’t be able to tell them from real people.

Click on the cover for a summary of the book.

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Levy points out there are some upsides to these “sexbots.” Especially for people who are physically unattractive, anti-social and/or have problems finding love. “They’re lonely; they’re miserable,” according to Levy. “I think society will be a much better place when they have an alternative that satisfies them without doing any harm to other people.”

Not a bad argument. Maybe the world would be a better place because everyone would be making love not war. So instead of sending in the Marines, we could unleash the “love machines.”

A CLTV blog reader sent us an interesting e-mail from a man trying to propose to his girlfriend. He wants people to forward the e-mail to as many people as possible in hopes that it will eventually get to his girlfriend Mary. He’s even created a website: http://www.proposal-to-mary.com.

I was of course intrigued, so I went to the site. It’s a cute, well-designed site. He even included a poem. Here's part of it:

My angel,
Five years ago, I will always remember the day
When fate made us meet, blissful Alaskan moments in May
Earth spun around us and a journey began
Love, warmth, happiness, enough the years to span.

But as much as I want to believe this guy, the reporter in me has doubts.

First, he never gives his name or where he lives. He will only say that he moved to the United States from Germany. He says he doesn't want to become a target and wants to protect Mary's privacy.

Then I started thinking this is some sort of scam, a way to steal someone’s identity or get money out of people. But in another convenient answer, he says, “I can understand that people might be suspicious about this proposal. But – I have not asked you for your email address, there is no advertising on my homepage, I do not want to sell anything. In fact, the higher the traffic on my homepage gets, the more money I will have to pay for internet traffic. So – I do not make money, I actually spend money.”

Finally, this guy’s plan is to send the proposal to 50 complete strangers, hoping they will forward it to as many people as possible. And some day, he hopes, it will reach Mary after it’s travelled a very long way. Mind you, they’ve been together for five years.

Has he lost his freakin’ mind! He’s finally decided to propose and he is leaving it to an Internet chain letter? Who ever this Mary is (if she really exists), I hope she's not holding her breath waiting for him to propose.