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in Kerala
The couple expect to welcome their baby soon
A pregnancy photoshoot of an Indian transgender couple who paused their hormone therapy to have a baby is widely shared on social media.
Ziya Paval, 21, and her partner Zahad, 23, who live in the southern state of Kerala, were going through a gender reassignment process when they decided to have a baby.
Ms Paval, who says she always wanted to be a parent, was identified as male at birth and now identifies as female.
Mr Zahad, who uses only one name, was identified as female at birth and now identifies as male. He is currently pregnant and the couple expect to welcome their baby soon.
Congratulations for the couple have hit their social media pages.
“Trans people deserve a family,” transgender actress S Negha commented on Ms Paval’s Instagram post where she shared the photos.
Ms Paval and Mr Zahad say their experience in India may be rare because “as far as we know, no one else in the transgender community has identified themselves as a biological parent”.
Congratulations for the couple have been pouring in on social media
It is estimated that there are around two million transgender people in India, although activists say the number is higher. In 2014, India’s Supreme Court ruled that they have the same rights as people of the opposite sex.
However, they still face difficulties in accessing education and health care and often face prejudice and stigma.
When Ms. Paval and Mr. Zahad met three years ago, they were both estranged from their families.
“I come from a conservative Muslim family that never allowed me to learn classical dance,” says Ms. Paval. “[My parents] were so orthodox that they cut my hair so I wouldn’t dance.”
Ms Paval says she left home to attend a youth festival and never returned.
She learned dance at a transgender community center. She now teaches it to students in Kozhikode District.
Mr. Zahad, who is trained as an accountant, comes from a Christian family in the fishing community in the city of Thiruvananthapuram. He currently works in a supermarket.
He left his family after coming out as transgender to them. But after he got pregnant, his family accepted and supported the couple.
“They help Zahad during pregnancy,” says Ms. Paval.
It was Mr Zahad’s mother who initially asked the couple not to make the pregnancy public. They announced it on their Instagram page last week after giving their permission.
Ms Paval says her family has still not regained consciousness.
Ms. Paval is a dance teacher while Mr. Zahad is an accountant
The couple decided to have a baby a year and a half ago when they were both at different stages of their gender reassignment surgery, Ms Paval told the BBC.
Mr. Zahad’s ovaries and uterus had not yet been removed, so the couple stopped taking hormone therapy on the advice of their doctors.
The couple’s doctors are not authorized to speak to the media.
“Once the pregnancy is over, they can resume sex hormone therapy,” says Dr. Mahesh DM, an endocrinologist in the city of Bangalore who has worked with several transgender people.
After the baby was born, the couple say they need to find more work to make ends meet.
“It’s very difficult to survive,” Ms. Paval says, adding that she needs to take on more dance students.
“Zahad will be going back to work about two months after the baby is born. Then I will take care of the baby.”
The couple say the transgender community has been “very welcoming” to their pregnancy.
“Of course, both inside and outside of the transgender community, there are people who believe in stereotypes. They believe that a trans man cannot carry a baby,” Ms. Paval says.
“[But] it does not matter.”
Read more India stories from the BBC:
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