British theatre and film legend Ian McKellen was in India recently to inaugurate the Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2016, among other things.
During this conversation with Parmesh Shahani of Godrej India Culture Lab, he had quite a few lovely things to say about being gay, fighting for gay rights and coming out.
1. On apologising for Section 377:
2. On the joys of coming out:
3. On fighting for gay rights:
4. On the importance of having LGBT-friendly workplaces:
5. On coming out to your family:
6. On politicians and LGBT rights:
7. On the talk against gay people in the media:
8. On the importance of being out:
9. This conversation he had with school kids about labels:
10. On the label "gay":
11. His advice to twenty-something gay people:
12. On never, ever giving up:
13. On how coming out affected his acting:
He even graciously accepted a birthday cake from Mr. Gay India, Anwesh Sahoo.
Gotta love the man.
