Dutee Chand, who once fought gender rules, now feels the hit

KOLKATA: Over a decade back, she fought against a draconian rule of the IAAF, the current World Athletics, that was not validated by science and the Olympic tenet of inclusivity, and came out a winner in the Court of Arbitration of Sports. Dutee Chand instantly became a worldwide symbol of victory for women athletes and those with hyperandrogenism.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!This week, however, when the International Olympic Committee reintroduced a similar rule of exclusion, establishing mandatory gender tests from the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics onwards, it invalidated the Indian sprinter Dutee Chand’s landmark victory at sport’s highest court in Lausanne in 2015.“The fight I waged was not for my own sake alone; I fought on behalf of all women. I raised my voice to become a collective voice for others,” the two-time Olympian and 100m national record holder told TOI, the pain and frustration evident in her voice. “I did not fight merely out of a personal grievance, but rather for the sake of society as a whole. Across the entire nation, there are individuals with naturally elevated hormone levels; it was for their rights that I fought, and in that struggle, we were victorious. At that time, I even succeeded in getting the rule revoked; yet, now they are re-imposing it. I simply cannot comprehend the logic behind this,” Dutee lamented.This has been a particularly disappointing week for Dutee. In India, Parliament passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, which amends the 2019 Act by removing the right to self-perceived gender identity and replacing it with a medical board certification process.She reiterated the growing intolerance towards transgender people and expressed her frustration at the new Bill. “I felt deeply saddened to hear about this — to see such actions being taken, especially in a nation where everyone has the right to vote. In a democracy, rights should extend to everyone. To raise objections based on someone’s gender and to deprive them of their fundamental rights does not seem right to me at all.“Everyone has the right to live. Everyone has the right to find happiness in their life. Yet, by doing this, you are effectively crushing someone’s happiness,” said Dutee, India’s first openly gay athlete.Meanwhile, on Thursday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) mandated that only biological female athletes, whose gender has been determined by a one-time gene-screening test, will now be eligible to take part in female category events at the Olympic Games.IOC president Kirsty Coventry’s announcement that all athletes wanting to qualify or take part in female category events from the 2028 Games onwards will have to undergo an SRY gene test to determine their eligibility has been met with objection from human rights groups. The new policy — following an 18-month consultation phase — essentially stops transgender athletes from competing in female category events at the Olympics.They had previously been eligible to compete at the Olympics once cleared by their respective federations.“This rule actually existed before, and there had already been a struggle against it,” said Dutee, who had been dropped from the 2014 Commonwealth Games squad by Athletics Federation of India, and banned from competing as a female athlete, citing high naturally occurring testosterone levels or hyperandrogenism.“To be precise, this rule was fundamentally very unfair to women. There is absolutely no testing required for men anywhere. There are many men whose biological markers might actually resemble those of women, yet they face no scrutiny or testing whatsoever. However, women are constantly required to undergo testing everywhere — sometimes a gender test, sometimes a general medical test, sometimes a specific screening.”Critics of the rule point to the high proportion of false positives in screenings to detect the SRY gene — the sex-determining Y gene — that will be the required test for participation in the female category.Pointing towards the inconclusive science behind the test, Dutee said, “In today’s world, scientific advancements are on the rise, development is progressing, and societal mindsets are evolving. Yet, in this very context, to cast them out again — what exactly is their crime? If their biological makeup is natural, if that’s simply how they are—then that is the advantage they possess. It is not as if they are deliberately taking medicines or drugs to artificially boost their testosterone levels,” she pointed out.Pointing towards the inconclusive science behind the test, Chand said, “In today’s world, scientific advancements are on the rise, development is progressing, and societal mindsets are evolving. Yet, in this very context, to cast them out again — what exactly is their crime? If their biological makeup is natural, if that’s simply how they are — then that is the advantage they possess. It is not as if they are deliberately taking medicines or drugs to artificially boost their testosterone levels.”Chand reiterated the growing intolerance towards transgender people and expressed her frustration at the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, passed by the Indian Parliament, also this week, that amends the 2019 Act by removing the right to self-perceived gender identity and replacing it with a medical board certification process.“Personally, I felt deeply saddened to hear about this — to see such actions being taken, especially in a nation where everyone has the right to vote. In a democracy, rights should extend to everyone. To raise objections based on someone’s gender and to deprive them of their fundamental rights does not seem right to me at all.“Everyone has the right to live. Everyone has the right to find happiness in their life. Yet, by doing this, you are effectively crushing someone’s happiness,” India’s first openly gay athlete sighed and signed off.