Priyanka Lalwani advises, ‘Children after a certain age should be educated about gender and sexual minorities’!
Actor-model-anchor-influencer #PriyankaLalwani always was aware of those belonging to sexual and gender minorities since she was in high school. But a better knowledge about the LGBT community and the vast movement happened much later. She is happy with how more people are aware of the movement, making it easier for those belonging to the community to come out as compared to what it was ten years back.
“The society has evolved, but a lot of people are still not aware of it. We need to educate people so that they know what the LGBTQAI+ community is. Children after a certain age should be educated about gender and sexual minorities. We have to understand their struggle and not look down upon them. They are just as humans as any straight person is. Just a thought, while watching Koi Mil Gaya, we could accept an imaginary alien-like Jadoo but in real life we fail to accept people belonging to the community, even though the latter look and behave like us unlike the former,” she says.
Priyanka shares having friends belonging to the community, “They are the sweetest. There is nothing different in them apart from being more empathetic, which probably we don’t find a lot these days.”
While the Supreme Court has decriminalized Section 377, same-sex marriage is still illegal in India. “It’s high time they made it legal. As they say love is love! It doesn’t matter what someone’s sexual orientation is, they should have an equal right to be with someone they love. We need to normalize this concept,” urges the actor, who has been a part of TV show Jamai Raja, Web series Spotlight 2 and films Vaaesar e Gum Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se.
Giving a heartfelt message to the community, Priyanka adds, “Just be you and be with whoever makes you happy or do whatever makes you happy. Give yourself more priority. We are in the 21st century where caste, religion, sex etc of a person should not come in between love. With what we’ve been through this pandemic, we now know that love and hope is all that we have.”