My mom was ready to lose everything to support my transit identity.

In 2019, Serja became the first transgender woman to marry a law in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu after the historic court ruling. Now a new documentary, Amma’s PRIDE, Chronicles SRIJA Battle to recognize the country for her marriage and fixed support from her mother, Valley.

“Serga is a gift”, tells Vali, 45, BBC because she and her daughter embrace.

“I know that not all converted people have what I have,” adds Serga, 25, from the city of Totokudi Port.

“My education, my job, my marriage – everything was possible because of my mother’s support.”

She and her mother shared their story for the first time with the pride of Amma (mother’s pride), which follows the unique experience of Serga.

Serga met her future husband, Aaron, in a temple in 2017. After learning that they participated in joint friends, they quickly started in text messages regularly. She was already outside the transgender and began to move.

“We have talked a lot. She has proven to me about her experiences as a passing woman,” she told Aaron BBC.

Within months, they fell in love and decided that they wanted to spend their lives together.

“We wanted legal recognition because we want a normal life like every other couple,” said Serga. “We want all the protection that comes from legal recognition of marriage.”

This deceives securities, such as transferring money or property if one of the spouses dies.

In 2014, the Indian Supreme Court established a specific protection for sexually transformed persons, and granting them equality of rights in education, employment, health care and marriage – though this India still does not allow gay marriage.

It is not known that the number of couples who were married in India, or who was the first. Activists say that there is at least one wedding ceremony legally registered before Serga and Aaron – in 2018 a couple married in Bangalore.

“Of course there are strange pairs, or transgender pairs, throughout India,” says Amma’s PRIDE, Shiva Krish, but because of the continuous open discrimination.

SRIJA and Arun’s attempt to record their wedding for the year 2018, where the registrar argued that the Hindu Marriage Law of 1955 determined the marriage as a union between the “bride” and “the groom”, which excluded transit women.

But the couple, with the support of gay activists, pushed back and took their relationship in the public sphere. The effort was worth it.

They received global interest in 2019 when the Chanty Supreme School Court supported their right to marry, saying that transgender persons should be recognized as a “bride” or “groom” as specified in the Hindu Marriage Law of 1955.

Activists were seen by the ruling as a pivotal step in accepting transgender persons in India, where both Serga and Aaron became a local favor because of the challenge of cultural norms.

But media coverage also called for a negative audit.

“The next day for local news coverage, I was expelled from my job,” says Aaron, who was working as a manual worker in the transport sector. He believes that it was due to transparency.

It follows online hunting.

He says: “People send offensive messages that criticize me for being married to a sexual transgender woman.”

The couple briefly separated under the strain.

Nevertheless, Serga outperformed her education, and often comes in the classroom in high school.

She continued to obtain a certificate in English literature from the University of Tamil Nadu, to become one of the only people in her family who obtained higher education.

It is a source of pride for Valley, who left the 14 -year -old school.

Even before the fighting in order to admit its marriage by the state, Serga and her family faced hostility and abuse.

After Sirja came out as a transgender woman at the age of 17, she, her mother and younger brother, China, were evacuated from their home by her owner.

Many family members have stopped talking to them.

But the mother of Serga and her brother was steadfast in their support.

“I will always stand next to my daughter,” says Valley.

“All people converted by their families must be supported.”

Valley, who became a single father when her husband died when she was only six Serge, works in a kitchen in a school.

But although it gained a modest income, it helped pay the costs of reset the gender of her daughter, partly by selling some of her jewelry, and after that.

“She takes care of me well,” says Serga.

There are about two million sexually transformed people in India, which is the most populated country in the world, although activists say the number is higher.

While the country has approved comprehensive legislation and recognized the law of “a third sex”, the stigma and discrimination still exists.

Studies have found that transgender people in India are facing high rates of abuse, mental health issues, and limited access to education, employment and health care. Many are forced to beg or enter into sexual work.

Globally, the United Nations says large numbers of transgender people face rejection from their families.

“There are not many converts in India, or even the world, who get their families’ support,” says director, Shiva Krish.

“The story of Serga and Valley is unique.”

Serga says she hopes to help the film challenge stereotypes about converts and the types of stories that are often promoted in the media around the group – especially those that focus on shock and assault.

“This documentary explains that we can be leaders. I am a manager, a producer member of the workforce,” said Serga.

“When people see new types of stories on converting people, we hope their minds will also change.”

After the first show in international cinematic festivals, Amma’s pride was shown in a special show in Chennai, for members of the LGBT community and allies, to distinguish International Vision Day on Monday 31 March.

After Chennai’s examination, a workshop was held where the participants in small groups discussed the acceptance of the family and the community’s support for converting individuals.

“We hope that our examination events will enhance links between transit individuals, their families and local societies,” added Cathra Giaram, one of the filmmakers behind Uncle’s pride.

The Amma Pride Production Team hopes that the global topics to support the family will be in the face of the stigma that documentaries and workshops can be presented to the rural fans, as well as other cities in India, and neighboring countries such as Nepal and Bangladesh.

As for Srikha and Aaron, they are now working as managers of private companies and hope to adopt a child soon. “We hope for an ordinary future,” said Serga.

“I would like to become a grandmother soon,” he added.