Sruthy Sithara (

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

: ശ്രുതി സിത്താര; born ) is an Indian model and actress. Born in

Vaikom Vaikom, , is a municipal town and a capital town of Vaikom Taluk, situated in the northwest of Kottayam district in the state of Kerala, India. The town is also noted for its role in the Indian independence movement for being the venue of Vaikom ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, Sithara experienced

gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to a mismatch between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assigned at birth. The diagnostic label gender identity disorder (GID) was used until ...

growing up, but embraced her

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

identity and came out after college. Sithara was one of four transgender people in the employment of the

Government of Kerala Government of Kerala is the subnational government of the Indian state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who selects all the other ministers. The chief minister and their most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision ...

, working in their Social Justice Department. Sithara began modeling in 2018. In 2021, Sithara was crowned

Miss Trans Global Miss Trans Global is an annual international pageant for transgender women. According to itself, it is the biggest international advocacy pageant for transgender women. The event broadcasts live on multiple social networking websites from Lo ...

2021 after representing India in the eponymous beauty pageant. She was the first Indian transgender woman to win an international beauty pageant. Sithara played the lead role in ''

Pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

'' (TBA). She has been involved in LGBT+ rights advocacy.

Early life

Sruthy Sithara was born in her hometown of

. Studying at a residential school in

Kottayam Kottayam () is a municipal town in the Indian state of Kerala. Flanked by the Western Ghats on the east and the Vembanad Lake and paddy fields of Kuttanad on the west. It is the district headquarters of Kottayam district, located in south-we ...

, Sithara was unaware of the transgender community until Class XII and experienced

and transphobia whilst growing up. Sithara attended college in the city of

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

, Kerala, where she first learned of the transgender community. She began to work a corporate job in the city. Gradually, she began coming out as transgender. Two of her friends helped her

come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

to her family successfully. She was also met with acceptance by her friends and colleagues, although she recounted undergoing rejection and difficulty through the process in an interview with the ''

Deccan Chronicle ''Deccan Chronicle'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded by Rajagopal Mudaliar in the 1930s & currently owned by Samagrah Commercial Pvt Limited. It is published in Hyderabad, Telangana, by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited ( ...

'' in 2018.

Career

In 2018, at the age of twenty-five, Sithara worked as a project assistant in the transgender wing of the Government of Kerala's Social Justice Department and was one of the first four transgender people in their employment; she was the first in her position. She once worked with

K. K. Shailaja K. K. Shailaja (born 20 November 1956) is an Indian politician and former Health Minister of Kerala who hails from Kannur district. Shailaja currently serves as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) representing Mattanur constituency ...

, the lauded former health minister of Kerala. Sithara told the ''

'' in 2018 of her aim to become the country's first transgender

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

(IAS) officer. Sithara started modeling in 2018, acting in local advertisements and albums. She won Queen of Dhwayah 2018, the second edition of Kerala's first beauty pageant for transgender women.

Miss Trans Global 2021

Sithara represented India in

2021, an international beauty pageant for transgender women which began in 2020. Sithara spent six months preparing for the pageant, guided by actor Namitha Marimuthu and

make-up artist A make-up artist, also called a makeup artist, and often shortened to MUA, is an artist whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion, magazines and other similar productions inc ...

Renju Renjimar, and spent six months competing. Although

2021 was to be hosted in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, COVID-19 restrictions rendered the pageant an online event. On 1 December, Sithara was crowned both the winner and the Most Eloquent Queen of The Year 2021. On

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

, she dedicated her crown to both her late mother and her late friend Anannyah Kumari Alex, a radio and news anchor who was the first transgender candidate for legislative assembly elections in Kerala. Alex died by suicide in July 2021 after suffering ongoing pain and genital mutilation from a botched

gender confirmation surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...

. Sithara was congratulated on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

R. Bindu R. Bindu is an Indian Politician of CPI(M), who serves as Minister for Higher Education and Social Justice, Government of Kerala. Career She is the former Mayor of the Thrissur Corporation, Kerala. She is the first woman minister from Thris ...

, the Minister for Higher Education and Social Justice of Kerala.

Advocacy

Sithara was described by ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' as an LGBTQ+ rights activist and has received recognition as such after the contest.

Miss Sahhara Miss Sahhara (stylized as Miss saHHara) is a British Nigerian beauty queen and human rights advocate. With her 2011 participation in Miss International Queen, a beauty pageant in Pattaya for transgender women, Miss Sahhara became the first ...

, the founder of Miss Trans Global, praised her for her advocacy. She founded an online LGBTQ+ advocacy campaign named Kaleidoscope. As part of the campaign, she has attended sessions both online and in colleges throughout Kerala. She has also founded the Rise Up Forum, which focuses more broadly on societal and environmental issues. She inaugurated a wall art program and four murals painted on the walls of

Fort Kochi Fort Kochi, Fort Cochin in English, Cochim de Baixo ("Lower Kochi") in Cochin Portuguese creole, is a neighbourhood of Cochin (Kochi) city in Kerala, India. Fort Kochi takes its name from the Fort Manuel of Cochin, the first European fort ...

for the Rise Up Forum in 2022.

Acting

In a 2021 interview with ''

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naid ...

'', Sithara expressed her desire to pursue a career in acting and for transgender representation in

Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, ''Elippathayam' ...

to improve. She made her acting debut in the lead role in ''

'' (TBA), a

-language

romantic film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

written and directed by Vinu Vijay. Sithara plays the CEO of a dating app. The film chronicles her transgender character's relationships, first with a man, a woman and then a transgender person.

Personal life

Sithara lives in

, in southern India. She is currently in a relationship with theatre artist Daya Gayathri after Gayathri supported her through a major breakup. They are the first

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

couple in Kerala to come out publicly. The couple has gained a following on the social media platform

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

, and confronted online criticism. Gayathri also performed in ''Pink'' alongside Sithara.

Selected works

References

External links

Miss Trans Global 2021 results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sithara, Sruthy Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Indian beauty pageant winners Indian female models Transgender rights activists Indian LGBT rights activists Indian LGBT models Indian lesbian actresses Indian women activists Indian transgender women Lesbian models Transgender female models Transgender actresses 21st-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian LGBT people Indian transgender actors