MUMBAI, India (AP) – British actor Ian McKellen has criticized India’s use of a British colonial law to crack down on homosexuals, saying in an interview with a Mumbai newspaper published Tuesday that “India needs to grow up.”
The 76-year-old actor was in the west coast Indian city this week to promote the British Film Industry’s “Shakespeare on Film” series coinciding with the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. He also dined with Bollywood stars, and was planning to open the regional LGBT-themed Kashish Film Festival on Wednesday.
In an interview with the Mumbai Mirror, the openly gay actor spoke candidly about Britain’s social and political evolution toward equal rights for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and reportedly said that “India is going through what the UK went through 30 years ago.”
He took issue with a colonial-era law – Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code – that makes sex between people of the same gender punishable by up to 10 years in prison. While actual criminal prosecutions are rare, the law is frequently used to harass people.
“It is appalling and ironical that India would use a colonial law to oppress its homosexuals,” McKellen is quoted as saying in the interview. “India needs to grow up. India needs to realize that it doesn’t need to follow British laws anymore.”