A transgender couple from Kozhikode in Kerala is expecting their first child in March. Zahad, who is 23 years old and is said to be the first trans man to conceive in India, and his transwoman partner, Ziya Paval, will be the father of the child.
On Wednesday, Zahad and Ziya, who began the process of changing their gender two years ago, shared the happy news on Instagram. “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…As far as we know India’s first TRAN’S MAN PREGNANCY,” Ziya wrote in Malayalam in the caption of her post announcing the pregnancy.
“When we started to live together three years ago, we thought our lives should be different from other transgenders. Most transgender couples are boycotted by society as well as their families. We wanted a baby so that we leave behind something of ourselves even after our days in this world are numbered,’’ Ziya mentioned in an interview.
“Our journey to become a trans man and trans woman will continue. I am still continuing the hormone treatment to become a trans woman. Six months or a year after delivery, Zahad will also resume the treatment to become a trans man,’’ she added.
Zahad, who works as an accountant, is currently in the middle of his third trimester. He is currently undergoing hormone therapy to become a man after being born a woman. However, at the beginning of the previous year, he discussed his approach to becoming a parent.
Ziya, a classical dance instructor, was born a man but is currently undergoing gender transition. Zahad had stopped having surgery to remove her breasts because she was pregnant.
