In a first in the country, a transgender couple in Kerala welcomed their baby on Wednesday Zahhad, a 23-year-old trans man from Kerala’s Kozhikode gave birth to a baby at the government medical college hospital in Kozhikode  on Wednesday.

Both the baby and Zahhad, who delivered the child, are doing well, Zahhad’s partner Ziya Paval said. “The baby was born at around 9:30 am on Wednesday through a Cesarean procedure, Zia added. However, Zia declined to reveal the gender of the newborn.

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Zahhad and Ziya Paval have been living together in Kozhikode for the past three years. Ziya was born a man and changed into a woman and Zahhad was born a woman and transformed into a man. Both of them left their families during their early adulthood after becoming aware of their transgender identities.

It was two years ago that they initiated their gender transition. When they started dreaming of a child, they halted their gender-transition hormone therapy and Zahhad became pregnant. “Once he delivers the baby, he will continue his journey to become a man,” 21-year-old Zia Paval has said earlier.

“Since we started living together, we had dreams of becoming a parent. Though we had made attempts to adopt a child, we felt it was difficult for a transcouple to adopt a child due to the legal complications involved. Then we thought about getting our own child,” Zia said.