These days, using someone’s preferred name and pronouns is the best way to demonstrate respect and acknowledgment of their identity, be they straight, gay, or transgender.
Despite Kaspar-Williams identifying as male and using he/him/his pronouns at the time (they now identify as non-binary and use both he/him/his and they/them pronouns) encountered challenges at the hospital when nurses repeatedly misgendered them, referring to them as a mother rather than a father, as per the Daily Mail.
Kaspar-Williams began his transition in 2014 after realizing he was transgender in 2011. The couple made the decision to start a family and carefully considered their options — knowing it would require Bennett to pause the testosterone therapy he had been on for years so his ovaries could resume functioning.
Disheartened by medical staff
”This was just about a week before we went into lockdown here in March 2020, so my high spirits were pretty quickly replaced by anxiety around the pandemic and how I would keep myself and my baby safe.”
The journey of pregnancy and childbirth was simultaneously fulfilling and challenging for Kaspar-Williams, who found himself disheartened by medical staff assuming his gender and mislabeling him as a mother.
”The only thing that made me dysphoric about my pregnancy was the misgendering that happened to me when I was getting medical care for my pregnancy,” he said.
Although Kaspar-Williams specified their gender on medical forms, the nursing staff continued to misgender them during interactions. Following Hudson’s birth, Kaspar-Williams has actively advocated for the recognition that childbirth is no longer necessarily tied to gender identity.
