Veteran Indian actress Zeenat Aman has collaborated with Google India to support the LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month. The actress who proved her calibre in the 70s and 80s, recently participated in Google's #searchforchange campaign and shared a message for people on her Instagram handle.
She wrote, “Happy Pride Month, dear followers. When @googleindia reached out to me to be a part of their #searchforchange campaign, my first instinct was to suggest they approach someone from the LGBTQIA+ community. As a straight person, I have not lived any of their experiences, so cannot speak for them. I do however consider myself an ally. I have befriended, known and worked with so many talented, creative, artistic and wonderful people from this community.”
She added, “My message thus is not for the LGBTQIA+ community; they know their own experiences best. My message is for straight folk, especially those older generations who are struggling to accept or are outright denying, the existence of queer identities. My own philosophy has always been to live and let live, and it perplexes me that anyone should take offence to the personal choices of another when it does them no harm. That too in matters of love.”
In the caption, she also quoted a famous Rabindranath Tagore poem, writing, “Do you remember that beautiful Tagore poem ‘Where the Mind is Without Fear’? It is a rousing vision of freedom, and I would like to quote from it in the hope that it will encourage you to choose love over hate, and reason over prejudice.”
She concluded, “If you are someone who carries apprehensions about queerness, I urge you to not be a slave to the dead habit of hate or ignorance. The times are (always) changing, and with it so can our thoughts. The shame lies not so much in being ignorant, but in choosing ignorance. We have the tools at our disposal to know better. So if you're still wondering about that Tagore poem, queer animals, or what LGBTQIA+ stands for...#Searchforchange, Google it.”