“I Got a Lot of Backlash.” A Trans Father Proudly Gives Birth and Breastfeeds His Son

After giving birth to his son, a transgender father bravely defends his parenting style. Online critics of his breastfeeding video expressed concern that the baby’s future health could be negatively impacted by the high testosterone levels throughout pregnancy and nursing.

His pregnancy was completely shocking.

Tanius Posey, who was born a woman, claims that from a young age he sensed “something was off,” but he “never knew exactly what it was.” With the help of a trans coworker, Tanius realized six years ago that he identified as male. He soon started his medical transition, and at last, he realized, “Once I began my transition, I felt whole.”

Posey knew having a child wasn’t an option after doctors told him he would have to freeze his eggs. Towards the end of 2021, he visited the hospital due to feeling unwell, only to discover that he was three months pregnant. The 31-year-old says he “certainly did not see his pregnancy coming at all,” and explained that he had to stop taking testosterone abruptly, which was hell.

He wasn’t planning on breastfeeding his baby.

The man was worried about the looks he would get if he was seen nursing his child in public. “I was worried about what society had to say about me feeding and the reason why I began sharing my chest feeding journey because you don’t see any trans men out there nursing or whatever, and there’s a lot that wants to,” Tanius says.

Eventually, Posey became a full-time content creator and began sharing his unique journey on TikTok. Recognizing the absence of trans people of color documenting their pregnancy experiences on the platform, he aimed to be the first to “normalize” it by sharing his own story.

The backlash has affected him a lot.

Posey disclosed that he got conflicting responses after posting videos of himself nursing his one-year-old son. With over a million devoted fans, Tanius has earned the affectionate moniker “seahorse dad,” alluding to the extraordinary phenomenon of male seahorses bearing their young. But he also got a lot of criticism, with remarks like “Go ahead and go back to where you came from” and “You do not belong on this planet carrying a child.”

Tanius admits that he’s even received a lot of backlash from people who are part of the trans community, telling him things like, “You are not trans enough because you carried your baby,” or, “You’re making the rest of us look bad.” But the hate has not brought him down. He adds, “I got a lot of backlash, it got the best of me real bad at first. But I’m like, maybe if I continue sharing I might be able to help the next individual.”

He is now responding to his critics.

In a subsequent interview, he responded to the criticism and encouraged other fathers of seahorses to “make use of what they’ve got” without feeling guilty. “I have the parts to be able to breastfeed,” Tanius declares. I still desire to provide my child with nutrition; just because I underwent a transition does not mean that. I have it; why not make use of what I have? My kid must have food. I can’t let him go hungry as I sit here. I have to feed him since he needs to eat and refuses to drink from a bottle.“

Posey aims to eradicate the stigmatization of transgender people who are raising their kids. “We gotta stop living under a rock — we’ve gotta open up our eyes and realize there’s more than one way to live.” He went on, “We’ve got the parts. It doesn’t make us any less of a man. We are still a man, regardless of how society feels about us. Utilize the parts you got.”

There are many trans celebrities that live a very fulfilling life in the bodies they always wanted to have. And some of them have gone into great lengths to alter their face and bodies and attain a completely different look. Like this woman who tried a lot to look like Barbie.