Transgender Couple Plan To Become Parents Next

Jamie O’Herlihy is a transgender woman, who came out only a few years ago. Harry Matthews is a [...]

By Stephen Andrew

Jamie O'Herlihy is a transgender woman, who came out only a few years ago. Harry Matthews is a man from Belfast who began life as a woman. Together the 24-year-olds found love, and now they want to be parents too.

The Dublin couple hopes to be Ireland's first Transgender parents by using Jamie's frozen sperm and Harry's harvested eggs.

Speaking to reporters about their unique situation, Jamie said, "I put my whole transition on hold so I could go to a fertility clinic to freeze my sperm, so that when the time comes when we want to have our child my sperm is there. Harry is now getting his eggs harvested and frozen. It's more expensive but we're getting there. The plan is to create an embryo so we can get a surrogate to carry the egg and have our own biological child together."

Jamie has a 20-year-old half-sister named Chloe, who also began life as a male. Recounting a situation that arose with her which caused the couple to think more intently about their plans Jamie said, "Chloe started her medical transition in November but the doctor said if I started my treatment without freezing my sperm I wouldn't be able to have children."

Jamie has not changed her name since coming out as transgender and says that it has not been an easy journey for herself and Chloe. She said, speaking candidly, "Whatever this is and for whatever reason, this happened to me and Chloe, whatever sick joke someone is playing on us, that we were born into these bodies that we feel we don't belong in. Once we come through this I think I'll feel brave, to put myself out there in front of people who didn't agree or understand who I am."

Jamie went on to elaborate that she and Harry understand that having a child together won't be an easy task, but they're very excited about it and willing to do whatever is necessary.

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[H/T: Mirror]

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