India’s first transgender couple who are biological parents welcome arrival of their baby (VIDEO)
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — Proud parents Zahad and Ziya Paval, a transgender couple from north Kerala, India, took to social media on February 8 to announce the arrival of their baby.
“Finally, the wait is over, we are thrilled to welcome the new member,” the couple wrote.
Zahad, who goes by one name, is the first transgender man born a woman to deliver a baby in India, activists working among the country’s LGBT community have confirmed.
His partner, Ziya Paval, a transgender woman born a man has confirmed that it was a C-section and the baby weighed 2.920 kg.
“It is wonderful,” she said in an interview with The Hindustan Times.
“The father and baby are fine. We haven’t decided about gender yet.
“Zahad will be father and I will be the proud mother from now on,” said Ziya, a classical dance teacher.
She added that they will request hospital authorities to register her name as the mother and Zahad’s as the father.
Gynaecology department head of the medical college hospital in Kozhikode, Dr C Sreekumar said both were in good health and can be discharged from the hospital after required rest.
He said hospital authorities will take expert advice on “registering role reversal and gender of the new — born”.
Zahad, 23 and Ziya, 21, met three years ago and fell in love.
Initially, they had thought of adopting a child but their advances were rejected by the system.
“Even the most eligible couples are not getting a baby through adoption, how can a transgender couple apply?” they were told by officials when they approached the government agency for adoption.
Both were undergoing hormone therapy when they decided to naturally conceive a child.
At the time, Zahad had already undergone breast removal surgery and was waiting to remove the uterus to become a man.
Luckily, he didn’t yet and both decided to stall hormone therapy and take a chance at becoming parents.
Pregnancy proved to be a big challenge for Zahad, a trained accountant.
“Returning to femininity that I shed on my own initially bothered me badly,” he said.
“But Ziya’s love and hope to have a baby changed my mind altogether.”
Zahad added that they only took a break. “We will continue our journey to become a transman and transwoman ... we will continue our treatment six months after delivery.”
