Trans woman wins historic victory in India in getting a passport for her son

Akkai Padmashali recently secured the right to obtain a passport for her five-year-old son that omitted the father’s name and listed her as the mother, marking a victory for both trans women and single mothers in the country, accords to ‘LGBTQ Nation’.

In 2018, Padmashali became the first trans woman in Karnataka to legally register a marriage, and a year later, she adopted her son, Avin. She subsequently divorced her husband. She explained that acquiring a passport for her son without her ex-husband's name was challenging.

“Getting his passport was a huge struggle,” she told the Times of India. “For Avin’s passport, I had to visit the Regional Passport Office in Koramangala. There, a transphobic woman insisted on knowing Avin’s father’s details, despite me presenting the divorce papers and the adoption deed. She even said, ‘I am going to put your child’s adopted father’s name. Otherwise, I’ll not issue the passport’. But I challenged her reasoning and involved the higher authorities. Finally, he got his passport, with just my name on it.”

“Transphobia is a significant issue,” she continued. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have encountered such a situation. I may not look like a cis-het woman, but I identify as a woman, and that should suffice.”

The Washington Blade notes that changes to the nation’s passport laws in 2016 allowed single parents to secure a passport for their child without listing the other parent’s name.

Padmashali mentioned that the national passport authority in India is “very sensitive” to the needs of trans individuals.

“I got my passport as a female, and Avin’s also getting the passport without naming the father, I think it’s a national issue,” she said. “From the transgender person’s perspective, I am pleased that my Supreme Court has acknowledged the community, and the parliament has recognized the Transgender Protection Act. India is on the path to progress, I would say.”

Padmashali gained attention in 2019 when she adopted her child.

“It has been my dream and desire,” she stated at the time. “Our families have accepted the baby. It’s heart-warming to see the little one playing on my mother’s lap. I just hope that he does not encounter any form of discrimination and social stigma when he grows up.”