What would you like to ask/say to other Prides around Europe and how can they possibly support you right now? We ask all the other Pride organisations around Europe and worldwide, when you march, also march for us. We cannot march this year due to marshal law and Russia shelling our cities. Please march for the 10 years of Pride celebration in Ukraine! March for Peace! March for human rights! March for Life! Fly the Ukrainian flag for us. Has the LGBT+ community in Ukraine been targeted by Russian soldiers? We don’t have much information in occupied territories but we know that when Russia enters territories they have lists of known LGBTQI activists, they know where they live and have details such as names, addresses, passport details. We know that when Russia enters these territories that these people are some of the first to be targeted Do you have a message for the LGBTQI community around Europe and the world? Let me tell that that communities, specifically social groups and LGBTQI community have played a crucial role in standing up for the Ukraine. Let’s face the truth, big politicians in Europe and the US were convinced that Ukraine would be defeated within 2 days and nobody wanted to help Ukraine. We appealed for help from communities and the LGBTQI community was one of the communities which helped us. All the protests and all the demonstration’s helped to change the minds of politicians. All the help we received from the LGBTQI community has helped to change the political situation, it helped to change politicians’ minds. I would like to ask the communities, to please keep standing up for us. Some politicians want us to surrender our territories but let’s face it, if we surrender then members of the LGBTQI community in these territories will be erased immediately. They will be either dead, deep in the closet as we will not be able to reach them to help them. It’s already not easy being LGBTQI in provisional towns but will be impossible if Russia takes over, so please think of us and stand up for us and make sure when you march that you march for Ukraine !
JP McCarthy discusses the challenges faced by the Ukraininan LGBT+ community with the Director of KyivPride Lenny Emsonn
What are the biggest challenges that you as a community are facing, I have read that there was a shortage of hormones for the Transgender community? Ukraine is experiencing shortages in medication such as hormones and also for those living with HIV. This situation has stabilized thanks to the LGBTQI organisations in Ukraine and abroad where transgender people can reach out and request medication Are you concerned that this war will reverse the progress you’ve made with LGBT+ rights in Ukraine ? Within the last 3 months, we see that the progress has started rolling back. Hate crimes are on the rise. The majority of the community are staying in the country, we are staying with our motherland. We have organized a Pride march in Warsaw. Kyiv Pride and Warsaw Pride will be marching for peace on June 25th. This will crucial for our visibility and show that we are resisting Russian aggression. We are expecting 80,000 people to March with us. This will be a huge march in support of Ukraine, the LGBT community along with its allies will be showing their support for Ukraine. This will regain our visibility and our role as one of the biggest and most active social groups within Ukrainian society
How are you doing right now and where are you, and are you safe? Yes, I’m doing Ok, I’m currently in Kyiv
You mentioned that this year is the 10th anniversary of Kyiv Pride. Did you have big plans for this before the invasion? Yes, we had big plans, we wanted to invite European and Canadian politicians and we wanted to invite celebrities from Us and Europe to march with us to make it really big and visible to demonstrate the support. We started preparations in January and were looking for February and March to confirm everything but our plans were all erased in one day in February What are your biggest fears for the LGBT+ community in Ukraine right now? The rise of the hate crimes, police being helpless to help us with this situation. We are trying to find ways to fight these hate crimes. In terms of Russian invasion our biggest fear is our life. We have a friend who is a LGBTQI activist who escaped from Mariupol and who is often asked this question and his answer is that when you are threatened with dying due to a bomb this is more important than your gender identity or sexuality. Our biggest fear is that if Russia wins, we will die
What were things like in Kyiv/Ukraine for the LGBT+ community before the Russian invasion and what is it like now? Unlike Russia, Ukraine is a very democratic country and human rights are respected in this country and we have a possibility to fight for human rights. Ukraine LGBTQI rights movement is over 30 years old. Homosexuality was decriminalised in 1991 and in 1993 and the 1st organisations appeared. We have a national LGBTQI conference which is 15 years old and Kyiv Pride is 10 years old this year. Trans rights were significantly improved and accepted and Ukrainian society sees the LGBTQI as a social movement fighting for human rights and not as a sexual minority, just obsessed with sexuality, which is a huge change for Ukraine. We were very close to introducing the draft bill for same sex marriage in Ukraine. There is still a high number of hate crimes on a regular basis before and after the invasion.
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