Indian sprinter Dutee Chand who recently revealed that she was in a same-sex relationship with a girl from her hometown –says she will fight for her right to marry her ’soul mate’.
The 23-year-old stole the news headlines of the deeply conservative country with her sexuality revelation to an English-language daily in an interview. While she was praised for her courage to go public, she faced opposition from the family.
Dutee Chand told, “They should know that everyone just wants to live happily. People oppose many things in the name of religion, culture and so on, but since India is a democratic country, many things change frequently.”
The national record holder was threatened to be ousted by her family and she found her strength to reveal her sexuality in public after the Supreme Court colonial-era ban on gay sex last September. When gay-sex is considered as a taboo by the Indian society but no longer carries a punishment of up to 10 years of imprisonment, rights such as gay marriage are likely to prove elusive.
But Chand who is a woman who fights for what she wants says, “I am confident that we will also be legally allowed to marry. I will appeal and seek permission.”
