A photo exhibition LGBTIQ+ in defense of Ukraine will open in Poltava


During the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine, Mariupol became probably the most famous Ukrainian city. Unfortunately, its name thundered around the world in the context of brutal destruction by the Russians. Cynical shelling of the maternity hospital and the residential areas, dropping bombs on the Drama Theater, with the word “CHILDREN” written in huge letters, mass murders of civilians and hundreds of thousands of stories full of hellish pain.

Ukrainian scientist, researcher at the Institute of Sociology, human rights defender Maksym Kasyanchuk was in Mariupol when big war began. He is one of those who were lucky to survive and leave the destroyed city.

In conversation with Bogdan Globa, Maksym Kasyanchuk talked about life under constant shelling, evacuation filtration, imprisonment and the consequences of what he experienced.

**On the beginning of a big war**

The war for me began with the sound of explosion on February 24. As it turned out later, it was very close, about 500 meters from my house. In a few days, such attacks were already more massive and frequent. Now all of Ukraine feels a little bit of what we felt then in Mariupol.

In the early days, when the bombs were not falling so much on my head, I went to the store. There was no panic then: garbage was taken out, public transport was working, shops were open. Although small jewelry boutiques in shopping centers disappeared almost immediately. In supermarkets, the shelves were very empty: there was only bread and some canned goods. There was still some wine and champagne, that’s what I bought along with bread. It came handy later. 

I stayed in Mariupol until the city was completely occupied by the Russians. There was a reason for this. Back in January, I came there to visit my old father. He could hardly see anymore, and he needed help. When the war started, my father did not want to move to my house, but stayed in his apartment. Then the shelling became so massive that I couldn’t visit him. At the end of March, it calmed down a bit, I went to see him and learned that he had died. After that I decided to leave the city.

**On filtration **

In order to leave Mariupol, it was necessary to go through Russian filtration. The algorithm is as follows: a free bus picks you up from the checkpoint and brings you to a village near Mariupol, they place you in a school, then another bus picks you up from there and takes directly to another village for filtration.

Organizational order at the school was maintained by volunteers from the youth wing of United Russia. Their task was to form lists of who and when goes to filtration. I was running out of medicine so I went and told them about it. The next day I was already on the lists. We were taken to the House of Culture in some town near Donetsk. You could eat there, connect to the Internet. That’s where the formal filtration procedure took place. It was necessary to fill out a questionnaire: enter personal data and answer a few completely biased questions. For example: “How do you assess the actions of the criminal Kyiv regime during this war?” Then they looked at the passport, checked the questionnaire. I still had my fingers checked for calluses from shooting guns.

**On being in prison**

I had an Estonian ID card and it kept confusing them. Because of this, I avoided mobilization, although I had a Donetsk residence registration. However, I had a problem. I was already supposed to receive documents about passing the filtration, but the database revealed that I evaded payment of some debts, there even was a court order. They didn’t bother to explain what happened, but they asked me to put signature that I had seen this paper. I refused, so I was sent to prison.

At first, they were very lenient. They allowed me to take coffee, Estonian book so that I wouldn’t get bored and could read, glasses. It was much better in the cell than in the basement in Mariupol, there was light, heat, water. But in the morning, another policeman came, and they put me against the wall, stripped me, and took everything they could. Then the court order arrived, they read it to me, gave a copy, I confirmed receipt of this paper with my signature and went to Donetsk to pay off my debts. I still don’t agree that I have any debts, but I didn’t want to argue with them. I paid $500 - and I was removed from the debtors list and issued a document on passing the filtration.

**Meeting with FSB**

The second filtration took place on the Russian-Latvian border. There was already a real serious interrogation with the FSB. They were knowledgeable and asked questions based on specific details of my life. They asked about participation in Euromaidan and events after the Revolution of Dignity. And here it was obvious that I should not say anything. Therefore, of course, I kept silent about the fact that I trained the Mariupol police, half of whom are my graduates. All this information is available in open Ukrainian registers. But I really wondered why they couldn’t Google it. As it turned out, they entered my first name, last name, and patronymic in Russian into the search engine. When asked in Ukrainian, it gives information about my human rights activities and participation in Euromaidan, including photos. 

**About life on antidepressants**
Staying in Mariupol during the war affected my health. I came to Estonia very thin. But along with this, my mental health was shaken too. I am currently taking antidepressants. This has been going on for half a year. The fact that I can now speak calmly means that the pills are working.

Maksym Kasyanchuk: Now all of Ukraine is feeling a little bit of what we felt in Mariupol

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial 'outside agitator' idea.” Dr. Martin Luther King, 1963.

Please join our opening at **Ukraine House, Washington DC, on January 26 - at 5 PM** (the photo exhibition will remain open until February 2).   

```LGBTIQ+ in defense of Ukraine```

QUA - LGBTQ Ukrainians in America, in cooperation with [Ukranine House](), [Union of the LGBT military](https://lgbtmilitary.org.ua/eng), and [KyivPride](https://kyivpride.org/en/) are thrilled to present a photo exhibition featuring portraits of LGBTIQ+ in defense of Ukraine. The exhibition pairs striking portraits and personal stories of Ukrainian heroes collected and translated by Dafna Rachok. It is framed as a conversation WITH extraordinary LGBTIQ+ Ukrainians who after Russia’s brutal invasion on February 24 started a new life as soldiers or volunteers, joining the army or starting a humanitarian project to help their communities, thus becoming defenders of their country and people. All of them chose to stay and fight against the Russian occupation and are risking their lives for a democratic and independent Ukraine.

Our idea is to show the unity and humanity of the Ukrainian people, including the LGBTIQ+ community. LGBTIQ+ Ukrainians have always been a part of Ukraine’s progress, and this fight for the survival of the nation is no different. We wish to highlight the resilience of LGBTIQ+ Ukrainian military and humanitarian volunteers. Through portraits and interviews with these heroes, as well as opening remarks from LGBTIQ+ Ukrainians and allies here in the United States during the opening event, we will bring this intersection of Ukrainian lived experience to the United States in a deeply personal way, building empathy and bridges between American and Ukrainian communities.

Opening remarks will include Viktor Pylipenko, Leader of the Ukrainian Union of the LGBT military (in the video); Bogdan Globa, President of QUA - LGBTQ Ukrainians in America; and Lenny Emson - Director of KyivPride.

**PARTICIPANT BIOS**

[Alim Yakubov](https://www.instagram.com/alim_4ik/?hl=en) is a Ukrainian Crimean/qirimli photographer.  Like many Crimean Tatars, he lived in Uzbekistan until returning to his ancestral homeland of Crimea, where he lived until 2014. Following the Russian occupation, he was forced to move to Kyiv, where he lives and works today Alim has been engaged in photography since 2012 and works with portrait photography and stock photography. Before the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, he traveled a lot and was particularly into street photography.

[Dafna Rachok](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dafnarachok/), is a Ukrainian-born scholar and Ph.D. candidate at Indiana University Bloomington. Since February 24th, she has been a full-time volunteer helping the Ukrainian war effort. She has lived in Ukraine, Hungary, Canada, and the USA.

**SPECIAL THANKS**

We are grateful for the support and warm cooperation of the Ukrainian House, the Ukrainian Embassy in the USA, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Over the last few years, our community has received support and progress toward equality for LGBTIQ human rights. We hope the Ukraine government will continue this positive progress to achieve full equality for Ukrainians of all sexualities and gender identities.

We encourage everyone to follow and support the Ukrainian movement Union of the LGBT military on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/lgbtiqmilitary/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D) and [their web page](https://linktr.ee/lgbtmilitary). 

We are grateful to Ukrainian LGBTQ organizations such as KyivPride, Fulcrum, Insight, Gender Z, and others who work hard on the ground and daily basis risking their life to provide medical, humanitarian, and social help to the queer community in Ukraine. 

Slava Ukraini!


![4 копия](https://api.qua.community/uploads/4_копия_20f7fdfa9f.jpeg)




Photo Exhibition in Washington DC: LGBTIQ+ in defense of Ukraine

This talk features the amazing Dzvenyslava Shcherba – a Ukrainian human rights activist and human rights defender. Her activism is focused mostly on women’s rights and LGBTQI rights. We spoke with Dzvenyslava about what is going on in Ukraine regarding human rights now, and daily life in Kyiv.

We also discussed the ongoing war and refugee crisis, and the progress Ukraine made in LGBTQI human rights in comparison to Russia’s continuing persecution of LGBTQI people. The USA must continue supporting Ukraine to support human rights in Eastern Europe and worldwide. 

Full video conversation you can [find on YouTube by the link.](https://youtu.be/kHMpBYHVIg0) 

**About the situation in Ukraine**

At present, the situation is really ambivalent, in cities like Kyiv, Lviv people go to cafes, have meetings, they lead more or less normal life but the moment is really unstable, there are bombings and shellings every day. Right now, Ukraine is getting ready to another massive missiles strike that can take place any day and cause one more blackout. It’s really impossible to work and study as internet connection and electricity are not available on a regular basis. Sometimes, you have to move round the city to find stable internet, or even food. It sounds ridiculous when you realize that all this is happening in the 21st century. People continue dying from Russian bombs and missile attacks. But at the same time people are united and ready to fight evil. Everyone tries to support each other. Ukrainians were very happy when Ukrainian army liberated Kherson.

In Kyiv people try to live more or less normal life, they go to cafes, walking around, everything is working. Businesses, like cafes, restaurants bought generators to keep their business afloat, supermarkets are also open, groceries are available. Sometimes restaurants arrange candlelit dinners. But when the evening comes the streets plunge into darkness and it’s very hard to see especially in Christmas season. Everyone in Ukraine would like to celebrate but unfortunately, it’s not possible. 

**Refugees situation**

The people don’t flee from big cities which are far from the frontline. They are just trying to make their lives as comfortable as possible. It means that they have to buy some equipment to keep themselves warm. Of course, there are people that are leaving, for example, newly liberated territories, such as Kherson Oblast since the shellings intensified in that area. But the number of refugees cannot be even remotely compared the numbers we had in February and March. There are people who came back to Ukraine from abroad. 

**LGBT in Ukraine**

Right now, LGBT movement in Ukraine is mostly focused on security issues. It’s about safety, providing shelters to LGBT people who had to leave their homes, organizing events where people can socialize and come together. An interesting fact is that many LGBT activists moved to western Ukraine. Before war LGBT organizations were not very visible in that region as it’s considered to be conservative and there is big impact of religious organizations on people there. Now, Lviv has become the center of LGBT movement in Ukraine. Some LGBT organization continue functioning even in such cities as Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipro. Right now, their activities are focused more on the humanitarian help, as well as providing assistance to LGBT soldiers. Ukraine has a very strong LGBT movement of people who serve in army. Ukraine is making some progress in LGBT issues. There was a petition on the presidential website in support of same-sex marriages which was published by LGBT person and was supported by more than 20 000 people. Civil partnership law looks quite realistic, there is hope that in few years Ukraine will make that step. There is a big problem with LGBT rights on occupied territories, people are tortured, kidnapped and prosecuted. The most important now is to win the war to be able to continue making progress. 

**Situation in Russia**

Russia adopted a new propaganda law which prohibits talking about LGBT at all. This law is a part of this regime. They keep on using anti-western narrative which says that LGBT people live mostly in western countries and they are ruining traditional values, they are dangerous for families and children. Russian propaganda also says that war in Ukraine started because of LGBT prides Ukraine was organizing. Hatred to LGBT is an essential part of Russian political regime. The law Russia adopted is very dangerous for LGBT people on occupied territories as Russia exercises effective control there and can easily prosecute people based on their sexual orientation. This law is another step to ban freedom of speech and expression. Right now, for example, in New York there is a bigger number of LGBT people coming from Russia comparing to LGBT Ukrainians. 

**Ukraine is a human right center of Eastern Europe. **

Ukraine has become a center of human rights. There are very many good things done for LGBT. People are very active, they unite, organize different projects, make themselves visible. They are fighting for their rights and this brings changes. You don’t have that in Russia or Belarus. Freedom is a national idea of Ukrainians; it comes from the Cossack state. All anti-LGBT stuff seems to be imposed by former Soviet Union and later Russia. Hating others is not natural for Ukrainian nation. 

**Why the USA have to keep on supporting Ukraine.**

In the US there are some voices that call on stopping providing help to Ukraine and it’s very painful to hear because if Ukraine will stop resisting it will lose its independence, more people will suffer under occupation, they will go through tortures. We shouldn’t have any illusions, we have already seen what happened in occupied territories, in Mariupol, in Bucha, in Kherson. People were just killed because they are Ukrainians. All Russian propaganda, their opinion leaders, they justify the violence towards Ukrainians, they say that it’s good to kill Ukrainians, destroy everything which is connected to Ukraine. Speaking about LGBT rights, there will be none if Russia prevails. It may end up with criminal prosecution of LGBT people as it’s absolutely in line with Russia’s ideology. American support is about independence of Ukraine, about protecting people’s lives. Before the war came to Ukraine, we used to live normal life, we had some plans, had our work, studies, all of these was destroyed in just one moment because of Russia’s ambitions. Ukraine really needs support from the USA and from all over the world. If Ukraine loses in this war, the tyranny and hatred will spread further. Stand up for Ukraine and demand justice, it’s crucial for the free world. If Russia invades Ukraine LGBT people will be dying just silently in prisons, they will be tortures and kidnapped. Russia has long history of torturing Ukrainians, it’s not a good power that will just take over the territories, they will kill and destroy everything they can reach to. 

A photo exhibition LGBTIQ+ in defense of Ukraine will open in Poltava

Maksym Kasyanchuk: Now all of Ukraine is feeling a little bit of what we felt in Mariupol

Photo Exhibition in Washington DC: LGBTIQ+ in defense of Ukraine

Is Ukraine the Liberal Island in Eastern Europe?

Тетяна Касьян: Про Стамбульську конвенцію, справу Джоні Деппа та камінг-аути військових