Salon.com has a new article on Thomas Beatie, the pregnant transman whose media blitz a few months ago put transmen's lives into the mouths of talking heads across the country. It's an interesting article, which attempts to answer the question I posed back when he was on Oprah: Why Thomas, why now?

I was surprised to read that Mara Keisling (Executive Director, National Center for Transgender Equality) and Judith Halberstam (academic) had such negative things to say about this media frenzy. I actually think that it was an exciting moment to test the work that these to crabby pants activists have been pushing towards for the past two decades. The media is something of a testing ground for gauging social change, and I actually was shocked that Thomas was received with a shred of credibility by most media outlets. I mean, Oprah might have been a bit lascivious with her questioning about Beatie's genitals, but it could have been MUCH worse. Most of the press I've seen has been quite supportive or generally neutral -- with of course David Letterman as a gross exception.

But Halberstam and Keisling apparently weren't so moved. Halberstam has always been grumpy, but I generally like the things Keisling has to say. It seems that she was particularly peeved -- and perhaps rightfully so -- that Beatie's story recieved WAY more mainstream media coverage than did the battle over a trans-inclusive ENDA. I guess she has a right to be bitter about it, but frankly I don't think more ENDA media coverage would have changed things.

Anywho, here's their grumpy comments. They made me chuckle a bit. Don't the just sound like grumpy old men?

"The only positive thing that's come out of this is that the Beaties get to have a baby," Keisling says. "I don't see this as a cause for celebration among transgendered people," Halberstam concurs. In fact, she's worried that Beatie's publicity may have endangered people's abilities to access hormones or sexual reassignment surgery. His story may allow doctors to point to him as an example of why such surgery isn't even necessary or advisable. "I don't see how this helps anybody except to publicize that [people like Beatie] exist," says Halberstam.

I was totally dubious of their claims about this case's potential to eff everything up for transpeople when I read this article. But then I remembered, these two get paid to complain, right? Academics and activists -- never satisfied! Their paychecks depend on it.