UNITED NATIONS, May 6: Bollywood actress Celina Jaitly hopes her new Bollywood-style UN video on gay rights will spread a broader message of the need to change not just laws but also attitudes and to challenge stereotypes about the lesbian, gays, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT).
The 32-year old former Miss India was last year nominated by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as a UN Equality Champion in recognition of her support for LGBT rights.
Jaitly stars in the two-and-a-half-minute video titled ‘The Welcome’ which is about a young man who brings his boyfriend home to meet his family for the first time. The video promotes the UN’s Free and Equal campaign championing equality for LGBT people and an end to homophobia.
“My message with this video is this: that changing of attitudes while fighting discrimination does not just begin with changing laws and policies, you also need to make a change of hearts and minds,” Jaitly told reporters here yesterday during a news conference.
Jaitly, a mother of two-year old twins, said she has received threats for supporting gays and lesbians but will continue to work towards equality for the community.
“I have sustained this journey despite threats from many opposing parties, threats to my children, to myself and character assassination. It’s been a very, very long journey… I suffered a lot sometimes because there were people who would not want to work with me because I was supporting gay rights,” she said.
Jaitly said the video has got tremendous response from people not only in India but from other parts of the world. The video has been seen by more than 145,000 people around the world, including Mexico and Japan, since it was launched in Mumbai last week. (PTI)
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