In an effort to dispel hurdles for the LGBTT+ community, a transgender guy who became a parent for the third time wanted to share some pictures of his birth.
The pictures are only a little over a year old, Yuval Topper-Erez acknowledged. He had refrained from making them public, though, believing at first that doing so would be too personal; yet, he subsequently came to understand the significance of doing so.
The father wrote on his Instagram account that he has always loved birthing photoshoots, so he decided to make one for himself.
“At first I thought that they were only going to serve as a loving memory for me and perhaps for my son, but when I saw the result, I felt that I needed to share them, because they represent very well two causes that I carry in my heart: the normalization of home births and the normalization of trans or non-binary people giving birth,” he said.
Yuval also confessed that this was his fourth pregnancy, but the previous pregnancy unfortunately ended in a miscarriage that left him with many mixed feelings. “It was a difficult wait, physically and emotionally,” he noted.
This was also one of the reasons why he first preferred to share his photos and his joy with his closest circle. “I hope that, among other things, this album will inspire those who help give birth and future ‘hippocampus’ parents (that is, gestational trans parents)”, he added.
Similarly, he sᴛʀᴇssᴇᴅ that he is not the first to live this experience, but unfortunately there are not enough men who have decided to share their experiences, due to ᴛᴀʙᴏᴏs and ᴅɪsᴄʀɪᴍɪɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴ.
“I know how important it would have been for me to see photographs like these before my first pregnancy, and I know the great impact it continues to have to see portraits of other trans or non-binary colleagues receiving their children these days,” he said.
Topper Erez told Popsugar.com that another thing that made him publish his images, despite the fact that it is a past event, is that things for the LGBTT+ community are still very difficult in some countries.
“These photos are my way of saying that we have the right to exist, to make decisions, to love and to be respected,” she asserted.
His photos quickly went viral, and the proud father received dozens of comments from people congratulating him on his enormous courage to speak about a topic that, for a long time, remained in the shadows, such as trans parenting. And not only demonstrate that it exists, but also that they also have the right to enjoy it publicly.
