Diversity's child

As the long, fractious, and often nasty, general elections drew to a close on May 19, there was one piece of heartwarming news to cheer about: Sprinter Dutee Chand announced that she was in a same-sex relationship. With that, the 23-year-old athlete became India’s first openly gay sportsperson, unafraid to talk about her sexuality and sexual orientation, and an inspiration to millions of LGBT people in the country who continue to fight the stigma attached to their alternate sexual identities. 

Last year, the Supreme Court read down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and decriminalised homosexuality. You can no longer be thrown into jail because others have made rules about whom you can or cannot love. However, for India’s LGBT community, the road from legal empowerment to social empowerment is a long one. Though the colonial-era law has been scrapped and the courts have upheld the human rights of gay people, the dismantling of social prejudices against them is nowhere near complete. For every gay and lesbian person who chooses to live as who they are, there are thousands of others who baulk at it, and yet others for whom the process of coming out is traumatic.

This is why Chand’s declaration is so inspirational and path-breaking. As a celebrity and a sports icon — Chand is India’s national champion in women’s 100m and holds two Asian Games silver medals in 100m and 200m — she could have bent to the dictates of fame and tried to conform to traditional notions of  “acceptability”. But she did not. She went public with her sexuality and told the media about her personal trial — the hostility and pressure that she continues to face from her family because of her choice. It may be that the hard time she got at home in her village in Odisha stiffened her resolve to come out. Chand is not one to back down when there are attempts to mess with her identity. And she has never shied away from fighting for what is just and right.   

In 2014, the young athlete was dropped from the Commonwealth Games because she was found to be hyperandrogenic, someone with higher levels of testosterone than the standard set for women sportspersons by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The country’s most promising young sprinter suddenly found herself banned from competitive sports. At that time female athletes with similar conditions were advised to take hormone suppressants to lower their testosterone count. That’s because testosterone bumps up muscle mass and performance, and the IAAF felt that those with high levels of the hormone had an unfair advantage over their competitors. Caster Semenya, South Africa’s star sprinter, who is also hyperandrogenic, is among those believed to have taken hormone suppressants to continue participating in international sports.

Dutee Chand. Photo: PTI

But Chand decided that she would not submit to this forcible tinkering with her body. She refused to undergo hormone treatment and, instead, appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against her ban. In 2016, CAS decided in her favour and suspended the IAAF rule by calling it discriminatory. It was a spectacular victory for her, and one that also benefited other hyperandrogenic sportspersons like Semenya.

And now Chand has blazed one more trail. Social change is a slow and gradual process. But when role models and icons lend their voice to a cause, when they live the cause, as it were, they can help in raising awareness and acceptability and, thereby, power change. In an earlier era, tennis champion Billie Jean King came out as gay and showed the way for other gay sportspersons to be open about their sexual choice. Chand’s candid statement about her same-sex relationship with another woman could do the same — for Indian sport as well as for society as a whole.

Chand has followed up her disclosure by stating that she would fight for the right to marry her “soulmate”. Hence, she is not only pushing for acceptance, but has raised the struggle of India’s LGBT people to the next level. A progressive, inclusive society is one which can look beyond traditional heteronormative values and embrace people of every hue and every sort of orientation. Chand just took India a step closer to honouring that diversity. She deserves a separate medal for that. 

Shuma Raha is a journalist and author based in Delhi @ShumaRaha