Trans Couple Married in Historic 'Rainbow Wedding' in Bengal

A trans couple may have just made history in India.

Tista Das and Dipan Chakraborty were recently married in Kolkata, and are believed to be the first transgender couple to be officially married in Bengal, in what is being called a “rainbow wedding.”

The couple got engaged back in April, on India’s Transgender Day of Visibility. From there, the rush to get everything ready in time included beginning the aiburobhat rituals towards the end of July, and finalizing Dipan’s legalized gender change so that the marriage could take place.

“I am extremely lucky to have Tista as my wife,” he said. “This is the best day of my life.”

Though Dipan’s family has yet to come to terms with his being out as a trans man, and did not attend the celebration, the couple’s wedding was still widely attended by their friends and Tista’s family.

“I am happy to see my daughter settle down with someone like Dipan,” Tista’s mother said. “We have been through a lot of hardship, but parents should always support their children.”

Others hope that this beautiful celebration of love will not only bring them happiness as a couple, but will help move trans rights along in the country.

“This wedding will boost the transgender community. It will have a huge impact as the trans community fears being rejected by society,” Human Rights Law Network member Aparajita Bose said.

Since 2014, trans people in India have been able to be reclassified as a “third gender,” rather than identifying as the gender they were assigned at birth. It’s not a full victory, but trans rights activists continue to press on. A new bill is to further trans rights is currently being considered by the legislation, though many are concerned that it still does not go far enough.

“The Transgender Persons Bill should be a remarkable achievement for a long-persecuted community, but the current draft fails on the fundamental right to self-identify,” said Human Rights Watch South Asia director Meenakshi Ganguly.