Talk show host, comedian and advocate for gay rights Ellen DeGeneres on Monday, 21 May reacted to the news of Indian athlete Dutee Chand revealing her same-sex relationship.
‘She’s the 100m record holder and the first openly gay sportsperson in India. I guess she knows a thing or two about being first. I’m so proud of her,’ wrote DeGeneres in a tweet.
India’s fastest female sprinter, Dutee had revealed that she is in a same-sex relationship with her “soulmate” who is a girl from her hometown of Chaka Gopalpur in Orissa. Chand refused to identify her partner as she did not want make her “the centre of undue attention”.
This is the first time that an Indian sports star has publicly admitted to being in a same-sex relationship. Chand holds the 100 metres national record and has won two silver medals at the 2018 Asian Games. She is currently training for the world championships, with her eyes set firmly on a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, so she doesn’t have any immediate plans of “settling down.”
Later, however, Saraswati Chand – Dutee’s elder sister – accused the sprinter's partner of "pressurising and blackmailing" the sprinter for wealth and property.
“With great sorrow, I have to say that the decision taken by Dutee is not of her own. She’s been pressurised and blackmailed into marriage by that girl and her family.All of this has been done to grab the property and wealth of Dutee,” she had said.
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