Bollywood actress and beauty icon Celina Jaitly will represent global LGBTQ communities at this year’s Toronto Pride Parade, where she will be honoured as international grand marshal.

Despite death threats and cultural opposition, Jaitly has long worked on behalf of India’s sexual minorities and has been a vocal opponent of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which makes same-sex relationships illegal.

In 2013, the United Nations recognized Jaitly’s efforts by naming her an Equality Champion as part of its Free & Equal campaign. Jaitly’s campaign video “The Welcome,” in which an Indian family meets a gay son’s partner for the first time, became the most widely watched video the UN has ever produced.

You’ve been an outspoken critic of India’s policies on LGBTQ rights and an advocate globally for years. Why is this issue so close to your heart?

In short, there are people in the LGBTQ community who have played important roles in my life. … I’ve seen their agonies and ecstasies. The biggest problem in our country is people do not educate themselves about homosexuality. But I saw what my friends from the LGBTQ community were going through. When I fell in love for the first time, I did not know the man I was in love with was a closeted gay person. That relationship changed me forever — changed the way I think, the way I perceive people, everything about me. Because when you love someone, you love them selflessly, and you don’t expect anything in return. There was another person who was like a mother to me — also a gay man. These people had a massive influence on my life, and when they passed away right after each other, it was a big shock to me. That was a big turning point, and I decided to stand up and actively do something about it.

What was it about their passing that pushed you even further into this work?

It was shocking, because one moment you speak with someone on the phone and the next moment you get that call. This makeup artist, who was like a mom to me in my travelling days, … died in a tragic railway accident. … In the last conversation I’d had with him just one week before this, he told me, “I’m already going to be 60 in five years. I don’t have a life partner, and I’m scared of being old and having no one in my life. I’ve lived half my life alone, in a closet.” … He was much older, so he came from a different generation when being gay was unheard of. ... My biggest heartache has always been that our last conversation was not a happy one. … A lot of people in India say, “Our biggest fear is old age. Who will take care of us?” I’d been supporting gay rights even before these people passed away, but this was when I stood up and became involved in activism, speaking out against [Section] 377 in India.

What has it been like to work on such a big scale since you were named a UN Equality Champion?

It’s amazing. For nearly a decade, I’ve tried to get my point across to religious fanatics, people do not want to understand, and it hasn’t been an easy journey. To have your very existence threatened — and then to have your work acknowledged by the United Nations is a big step because the platform becomes bigger. … When your work receives credibility, people take notice in a different way and are afraid to threaten you. People do sit down and hear you out, which is important.

What do you think people can learn from the struggle for LGBTQ rights in India?

People need to learn that combating discrimination of any kind requires not just a change in laws and policy, but also a change in hearts and minds. … Changing attitudes is never easy, but it happens in other issues. … Change often begins with difficult conversations, so I’d tell people: No matter how difficult this conversation is for you, have the conversation.

Have you been to Toronto? Have you attended the Pride parade here before?

Yes! I’ve filmed in Toronto before. And no, (I have not attended the parade) in Toronto. In Bombay all the time, but not in Toronto.

What are you most excited for at Pride Toronto?

I think it’s amazing, and I wish it was the same in my country. People really struggle to get sponsors, money and permission from the authorities. It’s a never-ending, tedious process. … It makes me so happy to be a part of this great celebration of human beings. It’s just celebrating mankind in all its glory, in all the colour the human spirit exudes. I’m looking forward to this because it’s another wonderful platform for me to come and be the voice on behalf of people in the countries where LGBT do not have the rights to go and celebrate themselves, to say we’re all human beings first.

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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

More information on Pride and the Pride parade is at www.pridetoronto.com