Kerala trans-couple set to welcome baby next month

A transgender couple in Kerala has announced that they are expecting a baby next month, in possibly the first such pregnancy of a trans man in the country.

Ziya Paval, a dancer, took to Instagram and announced that her partner, Zahhad, is now eight months pregnant. “We are about to realise my dream of becoming a mother and his dream of becoming a father. An eight-month-old foetus is now in (Zahhad’s) belly… From what we came to know, this is the first trans man’s pregnancy in India…,” Paval said in the post.

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The couple was undergoing hormone therapy. However, Zahhad, who was transitioning to become a man, has stalled it to conceive a baby. Zahhad was undergoing the process for breast removal surgery that was stopped for the pregnancy.

According to media reports, the couple had initially contemplated adopting a baby and had even enquired about the process. However, they found the legal proceedings for it challenging, as they are a transgender couple.

Subsequently, the idea that Zahhad, biologically still a female, could conceive a baby naturally occurred to them. Zahhad was unwilling to fall back on the femininity that he was in the process of shunning, but the desire of Ziya (who was born male) to become a mother changed the former’s mind.

A team of doctors from the Kozhikode Medical College confirmed that there was no physical challenge in conceiving though both of them were in the process of gender transformation.

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Zahhad (from Thiruvananthapuram) and Ziya (from Kozhikode) have been living together as a transgender couple for the last three years. Zahhad worked as an accountant before proceeding on maternity leave. They left their families after realising their transgender identity.

They have undergone hormone therapy as part of the gender transition process. Paval said they got support from doctors at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode, where Zahhad is set to deliver their child next month.

“Doctors have told us not to reveal more about the insemination process. Since Zahhad has removed both breasts, we hope to feed the baby from the breast milk bank at the medical college,’’ said Paval while thanking her family and the doctors for their support.

(With Agency inputs)