The moment a new baby enters the world changes everything for the adults and siblings who have spent nine months waiting to meet their little one. It’s a beautiful, emotional moment that many families are choosing to document with birth photography.
A transgender man who became a father for the third time decided to share some photos of his birth to show that they too can live this experience and break down barriers for the LGBTQ+ community.
Yuval Topper-Erez confessed that the images are just over a year old. However, he had not dared to make them public because at first he thought it was something very personal, but later he realized the importance of talking about it.
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 LGBTQ+ 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.
