Freddy McConnell

Freddy McConnell (born 1986) is an English multimedia journalist who writes about transgender rights in the United Kingdom. He is best known for being a transgender man who has given birth. The experience leading to his giving birth is detailed in the 2019 documentary Seahorse, directed by Jeanie Finlay, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Education and career McConnell grew up and lives in Deal, Kent. He studied at the University of Edinburgh and graduated with a undergraduate degree in Arabic.

In 2012, McConnell enrolled in a short-term American immersion programme for Arabic. This programme was through Middlebury College over the summer of 2012 in San Francisco, California.

As of 2019, McConnell worked as a multimedia journalist for The Guardian.

Transition From a very young age, McConnell experienced gender dysphoria. McConnell realized he was transgender in 2010 at the age of 23.

In January 2017, under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, he applied to obtain a gender recognition certificate to be legally recognized as male. His application was granted and he received his gender recognition certificate on 11 April 2017.

While he was choosing his new name, he decided he wanted to pick a name with family history. He chose his first name from his great-great uncle Frederic William McConnell. His middle name comes from his great-great-great uncle Reuben Poland.

Pregnancy and Seahorse documentary McConnell stopped testosterone replacement therapy in September 2016 to start the process of becoming pregnant. On 21 April 2017, he was artificially inseminated and became pregnant. He gave birth to his son in January 2018.

His first children's book, titled Little Seahorse and the Big Question, illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw, was set to be released in July 2022.

McConnell announced his second pregnancy in August 2021, with plans to give birth in Sweden in order to be listed as the child's father, rather than mother, on their birth certificate. His second child was born in the UK in January 2022 via emergency c-section. McConnell has not publicly shared the sex of his second child, referring to them with they/them pronouns online. His children are referred to by generic nicknames on social media in order to protect their privacy, the eldest being known as "Shrimp" or "SJ" (The initials, McConnell revealed to stand for "Shrimp J", with J not standing for anything), and the second child as "LB" short for "Little Bird", neither nickname refers to the child's legal name respectively.

In December 2023 McConnell was a member of the University of Edinburgh team for the University Challenge Christmas Special.