Bollywood actress refuses to stop campaigning for LGBT rights, despite death threats

PinkNews logo surrounded by illustrated images including a rainbow, unicorn, PN sign and pride flag.

Bollywood actress Celina Jaitly says she will not stop fighting for LGBT rights, despite threats on her life and the lives of her children.

The 32-year-old star was named a United Nations Equality Champion by UN human rights chief Navi Pillay last year in recognition of her support for LGBT rights.

The former Miss India was also recently included in the UN’s new pro-gay Bollywood music video, which was introduced in response to last December’s return of India’s sodomy law which bans gay sex.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said the move represented “a significant step backwards for India and a blow for human rights.”

Residing in India, Jaitly is hoping her campaigning will reverse the law introduced by the Indian Supreme Court.

“It’s been a very, very long journey for me, both personally, professionally. Also I suffered a lot sometimes because there were people who would not want to work with me because I was supporting gay rights.”

However, Jaitly says she is undeterred and remains committed to speaking out for the rights of millions of LGBT people around the world, even though she and her 2-year-old twins have faced death threats.

“Despite threats from many opposing parties, threats to my children, threats to myself and character assassination, I do not want…my children to grow up in an environment where people are judged based on their sexual orientation.”

 

Comments (0)

MyPinkNews members are invited to comment on articles to discuss the content we publish, or debate issues more generally. Please familiarise yourself with our community guidelines to ensure that our community remains a safe and inclusive space for all.

Loading Comments