About

QUA - LGBTQ Ukrainians in America is the first association of LGBTQ Ukrainians and their allies in the United States. As an organization, we focus on supporting the Ukrainian LGBTQ community, helping LGBTQ Ukrainian immigrants to America integrate into American society, facilitating cultural and humanitarian exchanges between Ukraine and America, and advocating for the rights of LGBTQ people both in Ukraine and the United States.

Our history

In 2019, Bogdan Globa (a Ukrainian LGBTQ rights activist currently living in the United States) founded QUA to advance the interests of the LGBTQ Ukrainian population in America. From its founding as the first organization of its kind in the United States, QUA has centered members of its community in its leadership, including activists Dmytro Berezniak, Alex Burlakov, Sergiy Sibel, and Dmytro Orlovsky and Yana Slesarchuk.

What we do

We envision an America where LGBTQ Ukrainian immigrants can find dignity, respect, and a safe environment to live and build a family, and a Ukraine where LGBTQ people live free from fear and discrimination. With more than one million Ukrainians in the USA, we are an important part of a big family. At QUA, we remember and honor these roots. We work hard to promote cultural exchanges between Ukraine and the USA, and to provide opportunities for human rights activists between countries to connect and learn from each other.

QUA is dedicated to helping LGBTQ Ukrainians address a wide range of issues, including political asylum, LGBTQ rights advocacy and promotion, community-building, and cross-cultural cooperation between American and Ukrainian LGBTQ communities. By creating a platform to share experiences, QUA hopes to foster connections between members of the community and to serve as a valuable resource.

To further its goals, QUA has launched numerous community and advocacy projects, including: our inaugural Virtual Pride event in 2020 (in which we uplifted the stories of LGBTQ Ukranians in the USA); the Harvey Milk Program (an initiative that builds working connections between Capitol Hill and members of Ukraine's parliament); and Inclusion.team (a program which brings experience implementing inclusion policies in the workplace from American companies to Ukrainian businesses). In 2020, QUA began working on a special report about Russian anti-LGBTQ propaganda in Ukraine and Eastern Europe.