Guwahati: A couple being the first transgender couple from Kozhikode, Kerala are making history as they are expecting their first child.
The transgender couple, Ziya and Zahad have been living together for the last three years.
The baby due in March will be fathered by Zahad Paval (23) who is the first transgender man in India to conceive through pregnancy. Ziya, his partner is a transgender woman who teaches classical dance and she is 21 years old.
When trying to adopt a child, the couple ran into legal issues and they began to consider Zahad being pregnant. Despite her initial hesitation and worry about being judged, Zahad opted to carry the baby to term.
The pair is not concerned about their child’s support system since they think their experience will vary from that of other transgender couples, who frequently encounter discrimination from society and their family.
While Zahad, who had his breasts removed will start his transition to a transgender man roughly six to a year after giving birth, Ziya is continuing her treatment to become a transgender woman.
The infant will be fed by the couple from the Government Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode’s breast milk bank.
“Though I was not a woman by birth or by my body, I had the feminine dream inside me to hear a baby calling me ‘mother’….It has been three years since we are together. Like my dream of becoming a mother, he (Zahad) has a dream of becoming a father and today a life of eight months is moving in his belly with his full consent,” Ziya wrote in her Instagram post.
The couple hope that by sharing their story, other transgender couples will be motivated to live successful lives and start families despite cultural stigmas.