A trans man says he was tricked by his parents into going to India, where they arranged a sham marriage in an effort to “fix” him.
19-year-old Shivy (pictured) is an Indian citizen but has lived in California since three. He’s currently enrolled in the Neurobiology Program at UC Davis.
In June, he and his mother got into an argument after he cut his hair short. As a result, Shivy’s mother confiscated his phone. Going through his text messages, she learned Shivy was transgender and that he had a girlfriend.
“She was furious,” Shivy recalls in a video uploaded to YouTube, “and I didn’t feel safe at all.”
Not long after that, his mother told him his grandmother in India had suddenly become very ill and that he needed to go be with her. Shivy agreed. But halfway through what was supposed to be a two week trip, his family told him he not be returning to the U.S. Instead, he was being forced into an arranged marriage with another man in an effort to change him.
