Sports News Media and Coming Out of Lesbian Athletes: Perspective from Non-Western News Outlets.

In May 2019, Dutee Chand became the first Indian athlete to publicly come out as a lesbian while still actively competing. This study conducts a textual analysis of the Indian news media’s coverage of Chand’s announcement, focusing on three major English-language dailies: <italic>The Hindustan Times</italic>, <italic>The Hindu</italic>, and <italic>The Times of India</italic>. As one of the first studies to explore the Indian media’s response to Chand’s coming out, it sheds light on how lesbian athletes are portrayed in non-Western sports media, this one specifically within the Indian context. Chand's public embrace of her sexuality, in a cultural environment often hostile to LGBTQIA+ identities, has broader implications for understanding the media representation of sexual minorities in sports. The findings reveal that Indian news outlets depicted Chand as a rebellious figure but balanced their coverage by supporting her stance and conforming to prevailing social and cultural norms that resist public expressions of non-heteronormative sexualities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]