Opinion Gay at the Games

We all remember the true story of the swimmer from Goa on which the 2005 film My Brother Nikhil was based. Even though a disclaimer was issued “that the characters in the film are not based on anyone real” to enable Onir to go ahead with his film,many knew who it was based on. For those who don’t remember the flick,Nikhil,played by Sanjay Suri,is a state swimming champion who,when he is detected with HIV,is thrown out of his team and of his house. It is only after his tragic death that everyone finally comes around. This was Bollywood; but the sporting arena has many true-to-life stories of discrimination and homophobia that have led to many a gay,lesbian or inter-sex person staying firmly in the closet.

While it may currently be glamorous to be gay — recently England cricketer Jimmy Anderson posed naked for the gay magazine Attitude,although he identifies as straight,and is married — it has been hard for the more vulnerable groups of the queer community like lesbians,bisexuals,transgender and inter-sex people.

When Martina Navratilova came out as bisexual in 1980,it was because rumours of her “affair” with best-selling author Rita Mae Brown had leaked out. Coming out in the ‘80s was not easy; while she gained a huge LGBTI following,and now openly supports organisations like the Rainbow Endowment,it cost her sponsorships and support from various sport brands that did not want to be seen as endorsing homosexuality.

More recently,South African athlete Caster Semenya was asked to take a “gender verification test” to prove she was a woman after her gold medal in the 800-metre race at the 2009 athletics world championships. The possibility that Semenya is an inter-sex person challenged our understanding of gender as a binary. The athletics committee feared that Semenya would have an unfair advantage if she had changed or tampered with her gender. Closer to home,in 2006,25-year-old Santhi Soundarajan was stripped of her 800-metre Asiad silver medal because she “failed” the gender test.

Gender tests for women are not a new phenomenon. In the 1960s,they were mandatory for all international-level female athletes. The organisers said this was to make sure they weren’t actually men — and they basically involved the athletes undressing in front of a group of doctors. This practice ended pretty quickly,due to outrage among the female athletes. Now,a lot depends on the appearance,and in some instances the performance,of a female athlete. If she performs suspiciously well,then she is dragged in for a gender test that includes an anatomical evaluation,a genetic analysis,a chromosomal analysis — and a psychological evaluation.

“Caster is being subjected to the latest ‘sex science’ in order to fit her into our neat little binary,so that the apartheid of sex can be upheld within the sporting tradition. Many people who consider ‘race science’ intellectually problematic (for example,eugenics,The Bell Curve,and so on) think ‘sex science’ is no problem at all,” writes Andrea James,a queer activist,writer and film-maker.

The story of a small town boy who wanted to play cricket with the boys but was discovered to be a “girl” hasn’t just been played out by Rani Mukherjee and Shahid Kapoor in the movies; there are scores of young transgender and inter-sex “boys” who are kept off the playing field because they cannot tick the gender box as male or female.

The answer to this discrimination currently lies in something like the Gay Games: an event that began in 1982 in San Francisco,and draws thousands of LGBTIs from across the world. A young lesbian recalls how thrilling it was to see Navratilova a hairsbreadth away from her on the track field: “I was standing so close that I could see the veins on her muscular arms. But I did not want to ask for an autograph because on this day we were all there for a bigger cause,” she says. Perhaps,one day,we will not need a Gay Games.

For now,lets just cheer for Mitcham.

georgina.maddox@expressindia.com