Namitha Marimuthu represents India at Miss International Queen in Thai

CHENNAI: Namitha Marimuthu to represent India at Miss International Queen, world's biggest beauty pageant for transgender women that is to be held in Thailand on June 25th. The pageant aims at creating awareness on equality for the LGBTQIA+ and transgender community.

Namitha has been selected by the team of Miss International Queen to represent India at the pageant. She says that girls who represent our country in international pageant do get sponsorships but as a transwoman, she don’t get equal opportunity or support.

"I want our government to support me. My project for the pageant highlights on the lack of awareness and need of qualified doctors for transition surgery (sex re-assignment surgery). A friend of mine passed away due to unqualified doctors who has did not know about transition surgery. We do not have the latest surgical options to undergo sexual transformation surgery," says Namitha.

Talking about her transition, Namitha says that I have done my surgery 12 years back in India and I had to undergo another surgery in Bangkok around 5 years back. "There is a lack of awareness and knowledge about transformation surgery in our country. I lost my friend because due to the same. I aim to ensure adequate education for doctors and experts with the help of international doctors so that best transition surgeons are available in India. I am taking this project as my main focus for the competition and to ensure inclusiveness for the LGBTQIA+ community," Namitha added.

The beauty pageant Miss International Queen is held annually in Pattaya and all the monetary profits of the show goes to the Royal Charity AIDS Foundation of Thailand. Namitha is the first transwoman to participate in TV reality show Bigg Boss Tamil and she is also the national mentor for transwoman pageant in the country. She has also been involved in social works for the upliftment of transwoman community in the country. "During the Covid-19 pandemic I started working for the under-privileged community by providing food and clothing to them with the help of NGOs," she said.

Namitha is optimistic that she will be able to break the barriers around gender by popularising the idea of co-existence with acceptance for the LGBTQIA+ community. She emphasised that in order to eradicate Transphobia, there is a need to make trans people visible and showcase the work we are doing without any excuse. "I along with my brothers and sisters from across the globe will begin a journey to create awareness through education, digital media and start dialogue within the society and corporates to foster inclusivity and diversity all across. My aim will remain to create an equal society sans judgement of any form," Namitha concludes.

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