The Kerala government will help Adam Harry, a 23-year-old transgender resident of the state, realise his dream of becoming an airline pilot. After he completes his course, Harry will become India’s first transgender commercial pilot. The state's social justice department has sanctioned an amount of Rs 25.43 lakh to bear his commercial license training cost in South Africa.
Harry will pursue his training at Vulcan Aviation in Johannesburg, according to the government order accessed by Moneycontrol.
The state government had earlier sanctioned funds for his pilot training course at the Rajiv Gandhi Academy for Aviation Technology in Thiruvananthapuram. However, civil aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had said he was “temporary unfit” to fly citing gender dysphoria, mismatch between biological sex and their gender identity, according to a report in The Hindu.
Adam Harry has been compelled to take up a delivery job with food aggregator Zomato, the report further said.
For him, stopping treatment is not an option.
"I can't sacrifice my identity for my profession," he told the newspaper. "I want to be able to fly as who I am."
The Kerala government’s aid to Harry, a resident of the state's Thrissur district, came after he applied for government funding. Harry had said that he was unable to pay for his training cost as his family had expelled him after learning about his trans-identity, the state government order said.
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