Quick Facts
Biography
Pastor Esther Bharathi is India's first transgender pastor from the Evangelical Church of India (ECI) branch in Chengalpattu, India. She goes by her first name as Pastor Bharathi.
Early life
Pastor Esther Bharathi was born in Tuticorn as the third child and first son to a Hindu family. Her parents named her "Bharath Raja." She was constantly taunted by classmates and neighbors for being feminine. "I became a loner and could not even complete Class 12," she told Times of India.
At the age of 12, she converted to Christianity after a sister from a local church took her in a few years ago. In the year 2000, she was baptized. Bharathi underwent sex change surgery in 2007 to complete her transformation to a woman.
Education
She struggled her way through education before finding her path as a pastor. Tired of family ridicule, she ran to Chennai where she joined a group of transgender people. One of her sisters earlier enrolled her in a lab technician training course in Chennai. But she had to quit because her classmates ridiculed her threading of eyebrows and use of make-up. She then moved to Coimbatore where she worked as an accountant at a weighbridge for a couple of months, but quit after facing harassment from truck drivers.
Bharathi finally studied Bachelor of Divinity at Madras Theological Seminary and College in Chennai. She graduated in 2011, in front of a crowd of 7,000 people.
Career
Two months after her graduation, she was sent to lead a congregation of about 40 parishioners in Natarajapuram, a village approximately 60 km away from Chennai. Bharathi conducts service in Tamil and English every Sunday. Her estranged family have finally embraced her transgender status and are proud of her work towards society.