Birmingham: Odisha’s Dutee Chand, who happens to be India’s first openly gay athlete, loses no opportunity to lend her voice in support of the LGBTQ+ community.
At the Commonwealth Games 2022 opening ceremony here on Friday, the ace sprinter walked out to the stadium holding the pride flag along with six others, including British diver and Olympic gold-medallist Tom Daley.
Daley, who came out as gay in 2013, shared a picture of the seven LGBTQ+ athletes and activists from different countries — Bisi Alimi from Nigeria, Glenroy Murray from Jamaica, Dutee from India, Moud Goba from Zimbabwe, Jason Jones from Trinidad & Tobago, Prossy Kakooza from Uganda — who unfurled the pride flag. He highlighted in his post on social media that homosexuality is still a crime in more than half of the Commonwealth countries, the maximum penalty being death sentence in 3 of these nations.
Condemning homophobia, Dutee called for LGBTQ+ people to be allowed to live without fear of persecution or death and be their usual selves.
She revealed that though language was a barrier, spending some time with Daley boosted her confidence.
“He taught me a few steps while the music was blaring out loud. It was a lot of fun. I also got a chance to meet Prince Charles,” Dutee was quoted as saying by PTI.
“I didn’t interact much as I hardly speak English, but he told me not to get scared and ‘I’m your biggest follower’. It really boosted my confidence as we did some jig. Such a lovely memory,” informed Dutee.
The athlete, who hails from a nondescript village of Chaka Gopalpur, accompanied Daley and four others on the final leg of Queen’s Baton at the Alexander Stadium.
Recalling the mental harassment she faced earlier, Dutee said most of her folks stopped talking to her.
“When I first acknowledged my relationship status, I did not know about the LGBTQ+ movement. People derided me and told me I was mentally sick and used swear words in public,” recalled Dutee, who will be competing in 100m dash and 4 x 100m relay with statemate Srabani Nanda, Hima Das and NS Simi in her maiden Commonwealth Games.
“I had sleepless nights, but now things have changed for the better. I never thought this would happen one day and I would be invited as the brand ambassador of CWG. It could not have been bigger than this. Now the same people come up to me and show respect,” said Dutee.
