Nearly four years after the Supreme Court recognised the rights of transgender persons, and a few months after the approval of a policy by the State Cabinet, the first marriage of a transgender person in Karnataka was registered in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
Transgender rights activist Akkai Padmashali married Vasudev V. on January 20, 2017. However, it took the couple a year to formalise it. While Mr. Vasudev said he had multiple documents to prepare, Ms. Padmashali said she was too busy working on other issues. “We finally applied in December and after the required time frame of 30 days, we registered our marriage on Tuesday,” she said. Ms. Padmashali said: “It is a big thing to be registered under and recognised by a government body. The government should frame schemes to support transgenders’ marriage.”
However, the decision to marry was not an easy one for Ms. Padmashali who met Mr. Vasudev, an LGBTQI activist eight years ago in Bengaluru. “I did not believe in the institution of marriage, but my friends advised me to go for it. When I finally agreed, our families supported us,” she said.
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