Transgender pilot, declared 'unfit' to fly by DGCA, takes up food delivery agent's job

He was set to receive support from the Kerala government to become a commercial pilot.

Three years later, Adam is working as a delivery agent for the food ordering app, Zomato after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) deemed him 'unfit' due to hormone therapy.

He also released a statement in responde to media reports highlighting his 'fate' as delivery agent.

After an extensive medical examination, the DGCA ruled that Adam who identifies as transgender is "temporarily unfit" to receive a license to fly because of gender dysphoria, according to a report in The Hindu.

According to UK’s National Health Service (NHS), the publicly funded healthcare system in England, gender dysphoria is a term that describes a sense of discomfort that a person may have owing to a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity.

"This sense of unease or dissatisfaction may be so intense it can lead to depression and anxiety and have a harmful impact on daily life," as per NHS, which was endorsed by the DGCA.

In his application form, Adam was forced to take the test as a female, the gender he was assigned at birth, as DGCA's medical examination form did not include options for non-binary genders.

The youth was identified as female at birth but grew up to identify as a man.

He received sex hormone therapy that helps people with gender dysphoria to transition from their biological gender to their desired gender. 

So as per the Civil Aviation body, Adam cannot be cleared to become a pilot till he is on hormone therapy.

He was apparently told by the officials to first get his hormonal therapy completed and then apply again for the medical test.