New Delhi, India

India's first transgender pilot, the 23-year-old Adam Harry, has been declared unfit for flying an aircraft by the Director-General Civil Aviation (DGCA), though he has a commercial pilot license and is eligible to fly in the United States and South Africa.

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While speaking to ANI, Harry said, "I am the first transman person to obtain a private pilot licence and I am planning to pursue commercial pilot training in India for which the government has planned to support me financially. I am very happy about that. I did my private pilot training in Johannesburg in South Africa and it was a one-year course."

"But, soon after I returned to India after completing the course, my parents got to know about my gender identity and they put me under house arrest when I was 19. For around one year I was under

house arrest," he added.

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Harry travelled to South Africa's Johannesburg in 2016 to pursue training at Skylark Aviation Academy to become a pilot. However, when he opened up about his gender identity on Instagram, his parents stopped supporting him financially. He tried to complete his studies in Johannesburg while also engaging in part-time work, but he was forced to return home due to a lack of support.

In Ernakulam, he took up various jobs – from food delivery to working in restaurants – to support himself. It was here he met a journalist, who covered his story and put him in touch with the Social Justice Department. While he reached out to them to start a juice shop, the Kerala government offered him a scholarship to pursue his pilot training with the Rajiv Gandhi Aviation Academy under the transgender persons' welfare fund in 2019.

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Harry has decided to take the DGCA to court as the institute is planning to return the government scholarship – as he is not undertaking flying lessons but only on-ground classes. He wants the DGCA to stop comparing the bodies of cisgender people to that of trans persons. Instead, look at a person's qualifications. 

(with inputs from agencies)

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