United Nations: A Bollywood-style UN music video on gay rights, featuring Indian actress Celina Jaitly, has become one of the world body’s most watched videos ever with over a million views online, the UN said.
The video was launched by the United Nations in April as part of a global fight against homophobia. Charles Radcliff of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) tweeted yesterday that the video has become one of the “UN’s most watched ever” with over one million views.
Jaitly expressed her gratitude on the micro-blogging site saying the video has crossed one million views on YouTube.
The two-and-a-half-minute clip was part of the UN’s ‘Free and Equal’ campaign championing equality for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people and an end to homophobia.
Jaitly, who made her musical debut in the clip, was last year nominated by the High Commissioner for Human Rights as a UN Equality Champion in recognition of her support for LGBT rights.
Jaitly had expressed hope that the video would spread a broader message of the need to change not just laws but also attitudes and to challenge stereotypes about the LGBT community LGBT as she voiced concern over the threats and discrimi-nation faced by the commu-nity in India and across the world. The video, titled ‘The Welcome’, is about a young man who brings his boyfriend home to meet his family for the first time. Jaitly, a mother of two-year old twins, had said that she has received threats for supporting gays and lesbians but said she will continue to work towards equality for the community. In a message during the launch of the video, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had applauded India’s human rights activists and film fraternity for standing up for the rights of lesbians and gays as he called for the immediate repeal of all laws criminalizing consensual same-sex relationships. Ban said he hopes that the video will carry a message of equality to millions of people.
He had expressed his support for the campaign and his solidarity with India’s LGBT community, reaffirming his staunch advocacy to end prejudice and intolerance against LGBT persons. (PTI)
