India Gets First Transgender TV News Anchor

Padmini Prakash, a 31-year-old transgender woman in Coimbatore, India, has become that country's first transgender television news anchor. According to the Times of India, the appointment came just months after India's Supreme Court decided to recognize transgender individuals as a third gender.

Padmini, a former actor and dancer, has become the face of primetime news on Lotus News Channel, winning praise from both media vets and those in the LGBT community and a rapidly growing fan base that had her promoted to the 7 p.m. spot. It is a nice surprise for a woman who was reportedly disowned by her own family when she came out as trans. She later became a vocal trans activist.

Padmini told the Times of Indiathat anchoring a live news show, with it's lack of leeway for mistakes, was at first worrisome but she was commited to the objectivity required for the job. "I was very worried because I also had to focus on my diction and maintain a steady narrative pace to ensure that there was clarity and viewers could understand me," Padmini the the Times. Turns out she had nothing to worry about.