Transgender activists in India and Pakistan are celebrating two legal advances in their respective countries. Akkai Padmashali, an Indian trans activist, made history on Nov.
12 by obtaining a passport for her 5-year-old child, Avin, without including a father’s name. As a trans woman and single mother, she set a precedent not only for the trans community but for all women in the country raising children on their own.
Padmashali, who is one of India’s most prominent trans activists, in 2019 became the first trans woman in the country to officially adopt a child.
A year earlier, she made history in Karnataka by becoming the first trans woman in the state to register her marriage with her husband, Vasudev V.