Gay Ukrainians Volunteer To Battle Putin’s Anti-LGBT Russian Oppression ????????????️????
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Gay Ukrainians have reason to resist Russian invaders under the command of virulently homophobic President Vladmir Putin.
The Putin regime has relegated a pernicious anti-LGBT agenda since seizing power in Russia and the State Department has evidence of a “kill” list of prominent Ukrainian activists.
The U.S. State Department has sent a letter to the United Nations claiming that Russian authorities have come up with “kill lists” of Ukrainians to be killed or detained during an invasion of the country. U.S. has intelligence that suggests “there will be an even greater form of brutality because this will not simply be some conventional war between two armies,” White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said on the NBC’s Today show Monday morning.
Sullivan: “It will be a war waged by Russia on the Ukrainian people to repress them, to crush them, to harm them. And that is what we laid out in detail for the U.N.”
The National Security Advisor to President Biden, @jakejsullivan, joins us to discuss the Ukraine crisis. pic.twitter.com/xaWogFyPID
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 21, 2022
The list reportedly contains the names of people whom Russian authorities would order to be killed or sent to camps, NPR reports.
Russia: There are no gays in Russia.
Also Russia: We’ve discovered troops are hooking up on Grindr while simultaneously invading Ukraine.Russian gays are multitasking gold.
— Frank Giugliano (@nyccookies) February 26, 2022
Russia is notorious for its persecution of LGBT people. Russia infamously adopted a “gay propaganda” law in 2013, banning any mention of LGBT issues in venues accessible to minors. In recent years, Chechnya, a semi-autonomous region of Russia, has systematically persecuted LGBT people, especially gay men, jailing and torturing them, and outing them to intolerant family members, which puts them at risk of further violence. Some have been killed, and others have fled abroad.
Above: This picture is banned in Russia, you can get up to 15 days in jail for posting it, was added to a list of “extremist materials” In 2017, because the picture implies the “alleged nonstandard sexual orientation of the President of the Russian Federation, officially called “Item 4071.”
Bathsheba Nell Crocker, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. office in Geneva, warned in the letter to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that “abuses in the aftermath of a further invasion are being planned.”
“I would like to bring to your attention disturbing information recently obtained by the United States that indicates that human rights violations and abuses in the aftermath of a further invasion are being planned,” Crocker wrote. “These acts, which in past Russian operations have included targeted killings, kidnappings/forced disappearances, unjust detentions, and the use of torture, would likely target those who oppose Russian actions, including Russian and Belarusian dissidents in exile in Ukraine, journalists and anti-corruption activists, and vulnerable populations such as religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ persons.”
Above: r/gaybros beautiful men of Kyiv ????????
Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon was applauding Putin Wednesday night on the War Room just hours before Russian forces began their siege. Bannon even praised Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for his call for authorities to investigate gender-affirming care for minors as child abuse.
Bannon spoke to Erik Prince, founder of the military contracting firm Blackwater USA and brother of Trump’s Education secretary, Betsy DeVos. Bannon said the U.S. should support Putin because “he’s anti-woke.”
Said Prince: “The Russian people still know which bathroom to use.”
Bannon then asked, “How many genders are there in Russia?”
“Two,” Prince replied.
Bannon loved Russia because Russians don’t fly LGBT Pride flags to which Prince responded, “They don’t have boys swimming in girls’ college swim meets.”
Bannon snickered: “How savage. How medieval.”
Above: This is the mosaic wall of the hotel in Belgorod-Dnestrovkij. The oldest city in Ukraine, and top-3 oldest in Europe. Photo by Elena Rabkina on Unsplash.
Putin’s notorious “gay propaganda” law, enacted in 2013 prohibits any mention of LGBT issues or identities in venues accessible to minors, effectively banning Pride parades and other gay public events.
Steve Bannon and Erik Prince say we should be supporting Russia because Putin is anti-woke and has no tolerance for LGBTQ. pic.twitter.com/qzHl2TkwxJ
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 24, 2022
The Daily Beast ran a story about Veronika Limina who runs a Lviv based LGBT combat camp. Lviv is in far western Ukraine.
She has signed up for Lviv’s territorial defense force and says she is ready to join the fighting, as Putin’s forces move West across the country. “I am angry,” she told The Daily Beast, as the Russians bombed cities and drove tanks deeper into Ukrainian territory. “We will kill Putin.”
Photo: Olena Maksymenko
Limina, who works for an NGO promoting equal rights for LGBT people in the military, says the gay community in Ukraine will resist Russian occupation despite continued discrimination at home. The alternative is unbearable.
Andrii Kravchuk, who works at the LGBTQ Nash Svit Center, in Kyiv said the impact of Russia’s homophobia had been felt in his hometown in the Donbas region, which he fled after the 2014 invasion.
“We are very conscious of the threats which we have faced—as both Ukrainians and LGBT+ people. We understand that the Russian occupation would mean total lawlessness and repressions—we see it right now in the Ukrainian-occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas,” he said.
“Now we have only two options: either we defend our country, and it will become a part of the free world, or there will not be any freedom for us and will not be Ukraine at all.”
“Many LGBT+ activists, who have an experience of participation in the Euromaidan events, are joining the Territorial Defense forces or holding training in paramedical help,” said Kravchuk. “LGBT+ people who served in the army and military volunteers are ready to come back to their service. We are doing the same as the rest of the nation.”
In Donbas, a south-eastern Russian-backed separatist region of Ukraine, the LGBTQ community has already seen what happens if pro-Putin thugs take control. Before the Donbas war, the gay community was flourishing but since 2013, Russia-backed separatists brought increased homophobic rhetoric to the region. In many cases, the LGBTQ community faced assault, detention, and violence.
@generationshallow On Ukraine #gay #ukraine #gaytiktok #queer #lgbtq #politics #russia #queer #rights ♬ Still Don’t Know My Name – Labrinth
Ukraine is no gay haven. Many face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents.
@neptune_rx Gay, Ukrainian & proud tho #gay#lgbt#ukraine#kiev#kyiv#kyivpride#struggle#feature#follow#like#gayboy#gaypride#gaypride2019 ♬ Как в последний раз – ДЕТИ RAVE
Noncommercial, same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults in private is legal in Ukraine, but prevailing social attitudes are often described as being intolerant of LGBT people and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for any of the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples.
Above: Photo by Andriyko Podilnyk on Unsplash
A 2017 poll found that 56% of Ukrainians believed that gay and bisexual individuals should enjoy equal rights, marking a significant shift in public opinion.
@filipsevchik Peace ????????❤️ #ww3 #russia #ukraine #gay #lgbt #fyp #heels #dance #viral ♬ เสียงต้นฉบับ – C – Pe.C
After having failed to gain enough votes on 5 and 9 November 2015, the Ukrainian Parliament approved an amendment to the Labor Code (Ukrainian: Кодекс законів про працю) banning sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination at work on 12 November 2015.
In 2019 former volunteer soldier Viktor Pylypenko, 31, decided to come out after hearing how the LGBT community was being talked about.
He spoke to the BBC in a widely viewed video.
As the situation continues to unfold in Ukraine, we at OutRight have started to receive the first requests for support from LGBTIQ organizations which are preparing to receive LGBTIQ people in search of shelter, safety and security.
In times of crisis #LGBTIQ people face higher risks. OutRight has launched a fundraising campaign to channel funds to groups in #Ukraine for shelter & support in nearby countries.
Stand in solidarity with Ukrainians, donate to OutRight’s fundraiser: https://t.co/3HWLPmwjRZ ????????????️????????️⚧️ pic.twitter.com/kzLLMREg8w— OutRight (@OutRightIntl) February 24, 2022
Already, people are leaving Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and the eastern part of the country for, at the moment, safer rural areas and the western parts of the country, while neighboring EU countries work to prepare shelters for an influx of displaced people.
As we know all too well, in times of crisis, LGBTIQ people who are already marginalized face higher risks and cannot count automatically on access to humanitarian and/or social assistance.
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GiveOut activated their LGBTQI Emergency Fund to support OutRight Action International’s appeal which was launched in response to the unfolding situation in Ukraine.
New legislative initiatives of the Cabinet of Ministers and the expected decision of the ECtHR create conditions for solving the most critical legal problems concerning the protection of LGBT rights in Ukraine. Although belatedly, the Ukrainian government continues to implement the LGBT components of the Human Rights Action Plan. The main problem in this area remains the lobbying activities of the leading Ukrainian churches, which oppose all steps to combat homophobia and its consequences, claiming that it violates freedoms of conscience and speech.
But perhaps nothing underscores the prevailing homophobia in Ukraine like the surge of the “Invade us if you’re gay” memes Ukraine citizens used to taunt Russia in the days leading up to the invasion.
@Russia @Ukraine “invade us if you’re gay” #Russia #Ukraine #WW3 #UkraineConflict pic.twitter.com/zxqNAL1vEX
— Valkyron (@Valkyron_) February 21, 2022
Despite that, the members of the LGBT community in Ukraine remain hopeful, if a bit scared.
???????? #StandWithUkraine! Follow our members @KharkivPride and @KyivPride and Ukrainian NGOs, and show that we are standing with the LGBTI+ community in #Ukraine, now and always. ???????? pic.twitter.com/YletTAwiKX
— EuroPride • EPOA (@EuroPride) February 22, 2022
“We remain strong, we are not intimidated,” wrote @KyivPride.
Ukraine’s LGBT+ community say they’re ‘not intimidated’ by Russian invasion.
“We remain strong, we are not intimidated,” wrote @KyivPride. “Putin will break all his teeth trying to bite us. We have left far behind the past to which he seeks to draw us.” #ukrainecrisis pic.twitter.com/szVhgzPzN3— PinkNews (@PinkNews) February 24, 2022
“Putin will break all his teeth trying to bite us. We have left far behind the past to which he seeks to draw us.”
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