Dutee Chand becomes first openly gay Indian athlete
Source: BBC
Dutee Chand becomes first openly gay Indian athlete
19 May 2019
Indian sprinter Dutee Chand has revealed she is in a same-sex relationship, the first sportsperson in India to openly acknowledge being gay.
The 23-year-old athlete says she has been seeing her partner, who comes from her village, for five years.
Chand says the Indian Supreme Court's historic decision to descriminalise gay sex in 2018 encouraged her to speak publicly about her sexuality.
But some members of her family have not accepted her relationship, she says.
"I am having a relationship with a 19-year-old woman from my village [Chaka Gopalpur] for the past five years", she told reporters from Hyderabad where she is training.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48327918
Dutee Chand says she was encouraged to speak out after India decriminalised gay sex in 2018 (Getty Images)