LGBT activist Sonal Giani happy with response to TV stint

Sonal Giani, an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) activist, is living her daily life in front of the cameras for the show "Connected Hum Tum", and she has been vocal about being in love with another woman. She admits that the show is a "huge step forward in terms of acceptance of same sex love".

"Janu (my partner) and I are the first lesbian couple to be showcased at primetime on national television," Sonal said in a statement.

"So many people, and not just members of the gay community, have written in and called up to say that seeing us go through the typical trials and tribulations of love, has opened their eyes to the fact that sex between two men or two women is not all that different from the love a man and woman feel for each other," she added.

The 26-year-old, a theatre producer, is happy that "more and more people have begun to accept us with open arms as they feel for our struggle to be together".

"Connected Hum Tum", a weekday show, is hosted by Bollywood actor Abhay Deol, features six women showcasing their personal lives. Sonal's story has garnered unprecedented response.

Harish Iyer, a prominent activist wrote an open letter to the show's director Paromita Vohra.

Iyer wrote how he "expected a lot of hungama with some over-the-top, over-powering music and dramatic effects" when the gender of Sonal's lover was revealed. But instead he "was pleasantly proven wrong" as Sonal's partner was revealed "without any fanfare".

"It was so casual and so strongly depicted that without spelling anything out, you said everything. And you conveyed the right message to the audience. The message that love is beyond gender. And it didn't matter whether a man loves a man, or a woman loves a woman - whatever the permutation and combination, the word, the feeling, the emotion that stands out is love," he added.