‘Why can’t we lead a normal life?’: Athlete Dutee Chand on Supreme Court verdict on same-sex marriage

Chand, the fastest Indian woman athlete with a national 100m record at 11.17 seconds, said that the Supreme Court has said that queer people have the right to choose their partners freely. She said it should be the freedom of every individual to be with whoever he/she wants. “Like the queer people have the right to vote, they should also be allowed to marry a person of their choice,” she added.

In May 2019, the 27-year-old athlete from Odisha had revealed that she had been in a relationship with a girl from her village since 2017. Dutee, who won two silver medals at the 2018 Asian Games, has been banned by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for four years in January 2023, for failing dope tests.

As the majority view of the apex court judgement was that the legislature must decide on the issue of same-sex marriage, Chand said she was hopeful that the Centre and Parliament would bring a law in this regard and give recognition to same-sex marriage.

Dutee also pointed out that widows were once not allowed to get married again but the Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856 legalised it.

She also thanked the apex court for its direction to the Centre and the police to ensure that the queer community was not discriminated against and that there is no discrimination in access to goods and services. “I welcome the apex court direction to sensitise the public about the rights of queer people and the decision to create safe houses for queer couples,” she said.