Meet India's first transgender pastor
Pratiksha Ramkumar & Karthick S, TNN | Feb 6, 2012, 04.17AM IST

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Meet-Indias-first-transgender-pastor/articleshow/11772802.cms

CHENNAI: Shunned and traumatized as a youngster, 25-year-old Bharathi now preaches to a congregation of 45 respectful parishioners, including 14 families, as India's first transgender pastor.

Bharathi, who completed her bachelor's degree in theology last April, has been a pastor at the Evangelical Church of India (ECI) branch in Chengalpattu, on the outskirts of Chennai, for the past eight months.

The pathbreaking move by the ECI, which has more than 100,000 followers across India, coincides with evangelical denominations in other countries, like the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, deciding to allow transgenders as pastors.