Dutee Chand: India’s First Gay Athlete

Dutee Chand, born on 3 February 1996 to Chakradhar and Akhuji Chand in the Chaka Gopalpur village in the Jajpur district of Odisha. She belonged to a family of below poverty line weavers. But she didn’t let her financial status stop her from winning medals for India.
Dutee Chand is an Indian professional sprinter and the current reigning national champion in the women's 100 meters sprint. She was also the first Indian to win a gold medal in a 100-meter race at a global level competition. In 2018, she won silver in women's 100m at the Jakarta Asian Games, making it India’s first medal in this event since 1998. In 2019, Chand became the first Indian sprinter to win gold at the Universiade, timing 11.32 seconds in the 100m sprint.

Earlier in life in 2012, Chand became a national champion in the under-18 category, clocking 11.85 seconds in the 100 meters event. In the 2013 Asian Athletics Championships at Pune, Chand won the bronze in the Women's 200 meters. In the same year, she also became the first Indian to qualify for the final of a global athletics 100 meters final, when she reached the final in the 2013 World Youth Championships. Another feather on her cap that year was becoming the national champion in 100 meters and 200 meters when she won the events clocking in at 11.73s in the final in 100 meters and a career-best timing of 23.73s in 200 meters at the National Senior Athletics Championships at Ranchi.

However, in June of 2014, Chand was dropped from the Commonwealth Games contingent after the Athletic Federation of India stated that hyperandrogenism made her ineligible to compete as a female athlete. The decision was highly denounced by Australian intersex advocates. The Athletic Federation of India and IAAF's actions were widely criticized in regards to Chand's privacy and human rights.

Chand appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Canada and in July of 2015, the ruling found that there was a lack of evidence provided that testosterone increased female athletic performance and notified the IAAF to submit the evidence within 2 years to prove their case. Effectively removing the ban on Dutee Chand.

In 2019, Chand became India’s first openly gay athlete by publicly stating her same-sex relationship. She gave credit to the Indian Supreme Court's decision to decriminalize gay sex in 2018 that gave her the courage to come out and speak up about her sexuality. After coming out, she faced severe backlash from her native village, whose residents called her remarks humiliating. Her elder sister also threatened to remove her from the family. Later she went up to sign a two-year deal with sportswear brand Puma to endorse their products.

By: Manshi Bisht

Content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutee_Chand#Support_to_Caster_Semenya