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Photos of pregnant transgender couples stir up India. Photos/BBC
NEW DELHI – Couple’s pregnancy or maternity photos transgender India who stopped their hormone therapy to have a baby, went viral after being widely shared on social media.
Ziya Paval, 21, and her partner Zahad, 23, who live in the southern state of Kerala, were in the process of gender transition when they decided to have a baby.
Paval, who says he always wanted to be a parent, was registered as a boy at birth and now identifies as a girl.
Meanwhile, Zahad, who uses only one name, was identified as female at birth and now identifies as male. She is currently pregnant, and the couple is looking forward to welcoming their baby soon.
Congratulations poured in for the couple on their social media pages.
“Trans people deserve a family,” commented transgender actress S Negha on Paval’s Instagram post, where she shared the photos.
Couples Paval and Zahad say their experience may be rare in India because no one else calls themselves their biological parents in the transgender community as far as they know.
India is estimated to have around two million transgender people, although activists say the number is much higher. In 2014, India’s Supreme Court ruled that they have the same rights as everyone else.
However, they still struggle to access education and health care, and often face prejudice and stigma.
When Paval and Zahad met three years ago, they were both estranged from their families.
