This profile is part of Queerty’s 2024 Out For Good series, recognizing public figures who’ve had the courage to come out and make a difference in the past year, in celebration of National Coming Out Day on October 11.
Name: Dimitri Pavadé, 35.
Bio: Pavadé’s journey to becoming a decorated Paralympian embodies the French National Team member’s determination and bottomless desire to fight. Originally from the island of Réunion, Pavadé dove into para athletics training in 2015 while pursuing a career as a prosthetist. The man who told himself he would walk again after losing part of his right leg in a forklift accident in 2007 would soon surpass that goal on para athletics’ biggest stage.
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Pavadé joined the French Paralympic Team in 2018, securing his first World Championships medal, a silver in the long jump, one year later. He added a Paralympic silver in the same event two years after that during the Tokyo Games, and earned another silver in the long jump and his first medal in the 4x100m relay at the 2021 European Championships.
With his home nation hosting the 2024 Paralympics, Pavadé returned to the international stage, finishing fourth in the long jump. But barely missing the podium wouldn’t be the lasting image of Pavadé at those Games.
Coming Out: On September 7, three days after competing in front of the Parisian crowd, Pavadé came out publicly as gay in an Instagram post. His tone was unsurprisingly upbeat.
“Here I am today ready once again to face, overcome and move forward without taking into account what others may say or think of me,” he wrote. “ Yes, I am small, mixed race, one-legged, and to top it off, gay!”
Pavadé’s announcement made him only the sixth out male athlete to compete at the 2024 Paralympics, according to Outsports. While adding his name to an underrepresented community in athletics was welcomed, Pavadé’s post represented more than just him unveiling his authentic self.
It was an announcement of defiance in the face of rising homophobic sentiments in France and other European nations.
“The most important thing in my eyes today is that the people who matter to me love me for the person that I am,” he wrote. “If some do not accept you as you are then they are not worthy of your love. Life is too short to give importance to these individuals.”
“Second Fight”: Pavadé has always thrived when facing new challenges, and his public embrace of his gay identity follows that trend.
While his coming out was freeing, Pavadé also pledged to embark on his “second fight” supporting queer populations.
“Now I have a second fight to lead with my LGBTQIA+ community and I hope to give strength and courage also to the people still in the closet or to high-level athletes who do not dare to live openly,” he wrote. “This freedom is rightfully ours.”
Pavadé stands firmly at the intersection of queerness, race and disability. That fact isn’t lost on him, and fuels his quest of wanting to be a prominent voice for people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ folx.
“Disability is not meant to be hidden or ashamed of. The same goes for your orientation, so embrace yourself as you are and remember that you are not alone,” he wrote. “Life is extremely short and so many beautiful things are offered to us that we cannot deprive ourselves of them.”
Pavadé’s impact is already being felt, as evidenced by an anecdote he shared during a recent appearance on the French TV program Quelle Epoque.
“I was in Toulouse, where the mayor was celebrating all the local athletes. A sixth-grade teacher came up to speak to me. ‘Mr. Pavadé, there is a student in my class, a boy of Muslim origin. He said to me, ‘If you meet Dimitri Pavadé, say thank you to him,’” Pavadé recalled.
“He’s a sixth grader. I tell myself, that’s strong. It touches me.”
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