Adam Harry: India transgender pilot’s long fight to fly

Adam Harry was 11 years old whenever he took his first flight.

He loved the experience so much that he chose to become a pilot whenever he grew up.

His family, in the southern part of Indian state associated with Kerala, were supportive – his mother and father took out financing to send him to a flying school within South Africa.

But halfway through his training course, they stopped funding him after this individual came out as transgender.

“They were not prepared to accept me as who I am, inch says Mr Harry, now 23.

India is approximated to have around 2 million transgender people, though activists state the number is higher. In 2014, India’s Supreme Court ruled that they have the same rights as people of other genders.

However , they still find it difficult to access education, healthcare and jobs. Most of them are also forced to keep their families due to the stigma and prejudice associated with the community.

After his loved ones backed out, Mister Harry managed to get a private pilot licence : which would allow him to fly planes being a hobby – but couldn’t complete the course.

He carried on his efforts right after he returned house, even getting funding from the Kerala local government to complete his research and get an industrial pilot licence from a local academy.

But again, he strike a roadblock. Indian native regulators, he claimed, declared him “unfit to fly” in 2020 after a medical examination because he was on hormone treatment medication – which usually suppresses female secondary sex characteristics : for gender transitioning.

The reason, based on the medical assessment review issued by the Company of Aerospace Medication, was that as long as a person took the medications, they would suffer from gender dysphoria.

Sex dysphoria refers to the particular unease caused by a recognized mismatch between natural sex and sex identity. Experts state it could cause despression symptoms and anxiety.

Mr Harry says he was told that he would be able to request a review only right after he stopped taking medicines. He says this individual followed the guidelines for a couple of months before his endocrinologist informed him he would have to continue taking the medications his entire life.

“It was like choosing between my career and gender identity, inch Mr Harry says.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviators (DGCA), India’s municipal aviation regulator, has not responded to the BBC’s questions yet. However it had denied many of Mr Harry’s accusations in the statement , incorporating that their evaluation was done “in line with the planet’s best practices”.

“There are many pilots around the world, flying airplanes in their identity. I have a Class-2 medical [clearance] through South Africa Civil Modern aviation Authority and they failed to restrict me from taking hormones or undergoing physical transition, ” Mr Harry says.

After Mister Harry’s story was reported in the local plus national press, the federal ministry of social justice plus empowerment wrote the letter to the DGCA, calling its activities “discriminatory” and a violation of the rights of transgender people.

Now, the DGCA has asked Mr Harry to re-apply for the medical test “as a trans man” – after legally changing his name and registering being a transgender person.

He has also been asked to be prepared for more evaluations and testing, including a body hormone test. The regulator says it will also ask the endocrinologist and psychologist treating Mr Harry to consider in.

India doesn’t always have a separate policy yet for transgender pilots. If Mr Harry passes his course and receives a commercial licence, he can be the first in the country.

The DGCA has said that Mr Harry’s evaluation will be accomplished according to the US Government Aviation Administration’s recommendations for certifying transgender pilots.

While he waits for his dream to be realised, Mister Harry is making ends meet by doing odd jobs – he or she hosts programmes upon local TV channels, speaks on sex sensitisation to college students and sometimes works for food shipping apps.

He says the general public battle he is waging has received assistance from old buddies and teachers, a number of whom would mock him at school.

But his family still hasn’t disseminated with him.

“I don’t blame them because our community isn’t accepting sufficient when it comes to gender and sexuality. They had confronted a lot of bullying through relatives. So they were under pressure to stop me personally from transitioning, ” he says.

“I do miss them, but I have a large household now in the transgender community. ”