(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftimesofindia.indiatimes.com%2Fphoto%2F5580817.cms&hash=5006b139ba191b5c43be743c03e58596a0ceb27e)
Who's that girl? Transsexual in passport pickle
Mahir Haneef, TNN | Oct 14, 2012, 01.45AM IST
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Whos-that-girl-Transsexual-in-passport-pickle/articleshow/16802972.cms (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Whos-that-girl-Transsexual-in-passport-pickle/articleshow/16802972.cms)
How would he get past emigration and the security counters with his freshly-sprouted moustache for the last of the four procedures he had to undergo for the gender alteration to be complete? No one would be convinced that he was the she in the government documents.
As a desperate Aashiq looked for a solution, he soon realized that he'd hit a legal wall. To go from one gender to another in official records -- passport, driving licence, birth certificate -- he needed to first publish a notification in the government gazette. But when he forwarded his application for this, it was summarily rejected. He was told changing name, caste or religion was permitted by law. There was, however, no such provision when it came to gender.
Aashiq then petitioned the Kerala high court, which in turn asked a medical board to examine him and file a 'gender status' report. Those doing the test... promptly concluded that the reassignment surgery had been successful and Aashiq could never go back to being a woman.
The high court is scheduled to hear Aashiq's petition again the coming week. He's hopeful they will see him as the man he really is.
I am tempted to say something like "welcome to the nightmare of being trans in India." But I'm several years past that.
Things are slooowly improving, but India and most Asian countries, are at least 20-30 years behind countries like USA, Canada, Australia and almost all other developed countries.
There are still countries where being trans is a pure nightmare.
Anyways, India has always been more accepting with trans guys than with trans women - don't know if its the same with other countries.