While Miss California attacks gay rights, former Miss India helps relaunch India's only gay magazine

Celina Jaitley, Carrie Prejean

Oh, the irony of this story. While Miss California, from one of the most progressive states in the U.S., is running around blathering incoherently about opposite marriage to Fox News, former Miss India Celina Jaitley is not only speaking out eloquently about her support of gay rights, but also marching with gay folks in Mumbai.

But more than that, she recently put her name — and money — behind the relaunch of India's only gay magazine, Bombay Dost.

The magazine, which debuted in 1990, lasted twelve years before closing down in 2002. But thanks to some fresh cash and new blood, the magazine is back and I have to say it looks great. 

Some of the articles include "The Year in Queer", something called "The Beauty and the Terror" about the phenomenon of the Big Gay Club, as well as my favorite: "Straight's Corner" where heterosexual men write about gay themes. 

Jaitley's support of the gay community hasn't come without a cost. She's received death threats and, of course, is being called gay herself. But she remains unfazed, saying: 

Martin Luther King once said, 'You have to take the first step.' So I said to myself that if no one is going to do it, I'm going to do it. I went to the 'Mumbai Pride Parade' and walked hand in hand with every person who was a gay because I wanted to let people know what being a gay is all about. It is just another relationship.

Jaitley at Mumbai's gay pride celebration

Take that, Miss California!

BTW, Jaitley isn't just a beauty queen, she's also a Bollywood star and her first international movie, which was released last year. had a gay storyline. Called Love Has No Language, this New Zealand film tells the story of an Indian girl born and raised in New Zealand who falls in love with a man of Maori descent, but is instead pressured to marry an Indian man who turns out to be gay. 

Here is a trailer:

Any of our Kiwi readers happen to see it?