The Hon. Mr. Eliot L. Engel
Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
United States House of Representatives

The Hon. Ms. Marcia Carolyn Kaptur
Co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus
United States House of Representatives

Dear Mr. Engel and Ms. Kaptur:

 As you know, the Republic of Belarus held its presidential election on August 9, 2020. Unsurprisingly, the election has further proved the Lukashenka regime’s disregard for democratic values and free and fair elections. The opposition candidate Tikhanovskaya has left the country for her own safety. For several days now, we have watched demonstrations fill Belarusian streets, and hundreds of videos on social media from Minsk and other major cities have shown how police are arresting and using violence against peaceful demonstrators.

In addition, several Ukrainian journalists and civil rights activists have been arrested, including Ukrainian activists of Euromaidan SOS Konstantin Reutski and Yevhenii Vasyliev.

The situation in Belarus is critically important for all Eastern Europe as well as for Ukraine’s long-term national security. Ukraine and Belarus share over 670 miles of the border, which Russia could potentially exploit against Ukraine.

We believe that the United States can and should take a more proactive stance, in solidarity with the peaceful protests in the Republic of Belarus, by providing its people and activists more support while taking positive diplomatic actions.

In 2013, when Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity began in Kyiv, Ukraine, Western countries, the European Union and the US, had long expressed concern about the situation in Ukraine but took no more meaningful action. As a result, hundreds of people lost their lives. We believe that Western countries should learn from that Ukrainian example and more proactively support the Belarusian people. For example, sanctions should be imposed as soon as possible, in addition to more diplomatic actions.

QUA - LGBTQ Ukrainians in America, as an American grassroots LGBTQ organization, strongly supports our Belarusian brothers and sisters. We see the similarity of events in Belarus and on Euromaidan of 2013-14 in Ukraine and believe the entire democratic world must take action now before more innocent people are killed.

Sincerely,

Bogdan Globa
President


Open letter to Representatives Eliot L. Engel and Marcia Carolyn Kaptur

"**It's not the right time**". This is the most frequent response received when advocating for the LGBTQI+ community. But the truth is—it is never a suitable time for changes or progress, or even for a discussion about human rights for minorities such as LGBTQI+ people. Since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and the Ukrainian Republic regained independence, a lot of progress was made. For example, Ukraine was the first country out of the post-USSR ones that decriminalized punishment for homosexuality (the Soviet Union criminalized homosexuality with seven years of imprisonment or labor camp detention). 

In addition, following the Revolution of Dignity, when the Ukraine's Parliament passed [progressive anti-discrimination bills](https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/5207-17#Text), later they passed the [amendment to the labor code](https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/322-08#n26) that protects from discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). An important note: the new amendment to the labor code is still the most advanced in Europe, as many countries have adopted legislation protecting discrimination based on sexual orientation without including gender identity. Even the judicial branch made some contributions. Ukraine's constitution in Article 24 bans discrimination in general; at the same time, it doesn't have SOGI in the list, but instead has an open list. In May 2014, after two decades, the Supreme Specialized Court of Ukraine wound down legislative debates and [published a constitutional review](https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/v-644740-14#Text) that interpreted the Constitution as banning any form of discrimination, including based on SOGI. 

Unfortunately, since 2016, Ukraine's Parliament has stopped making any legislative progress towards equality for LGBTQI+ people, and all changes have moved to the government executive level.  But, even though Ukraine has changed a lot culturally and politically, among the biggest and most crucial puzzles remains unsolved—same-sex marriages or, a bare minimum for the gay community, civil partnership.

### Mission impossible (or not)

The biggest roadblock to same-sex marriage in Ukraine is the Constitution. Back in 1996, when the first version of the Constitution was written, Ukrainian MPs limited the institution of marriage only to men and women, preventing any marriage debates for generations. The mission to change the constitution means the LGBTQI+ movement needs to elect a supermajority in Verkhovna Rada (300 MPs out of 450) 3 times, the Constitutional Court needs to approve changes, and the President needs to sign the bill. 

Other examples of stalled progress make the situation look even more bleak:  [Bill 5488](https://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_1?pf3511=71891) was introduced in May 2021 as part of a long-term affiliation process with the European Union, and part of an Action plan for [National Human Rights Strategy](https://www.coe.int/t/commissioner/source/NAP/Ukraine-National-Action-Plan-on-Human-Rights.pdf) and many UN resolutions, including recommendations from the UN Human Rights Council. This bill would change the Criminal Code to clarify language in Article 161 to add hate crimes protections for LGBTQI+ persons and other marginalized groups.

Unfortunately, the bill was dead on arrival and never voted on in the Parliament, even though it would provide protection from hate crimes not based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but also based on race, religion, color, language, gender, and disability. Broadening protections against hate crimes has broad support overall. Following threats on Kyiv Pride’s march in 2016, even the Orthodox Church of Ukraine made a statement declaring the physical attack unacceptable.                               

Until now, the Ukrainian Parliament held down the “last fort” of traditional family values and didn't move forward with legislation that included SOGI. Meanwhile, LGBTQI+ Ukrainians continue to lose trust in their government’s ability or desire to protect them. Only this year, the Human Rights Ombudsman reported 17 cases of hate crimes based on SOGI and only one verdict in the court. Human rights organizations may report hundreds more hate crime cases every year (Ukraine Human rights organization [Nash Mir Center reported 186 documented hate crimes based](https://gay.org.ua/publications/CoE_Project_Report(eng).pdf) on SOGI in 2020), but still, without adopting Bill 5488 or similar legislation, there won’t be an effective system preventing these hate crimes and providing justice for minorities and marginalized groups.

Another existential challenge for the LGBTQI+ community will be adopting a civil partnership bill (as same-sex marriage is realistically not possible in the coming decades). “Preserving the institution of marriage” only for straight families, but letting same-sex couples have civil recognition, could let Ukraine join the ranks of other democratic and progressive countries, while appeasing some of the conservative sector’s demands. In most European countries, a civil partnership law was the middle step before same-sex marriages were fully recognized.. That institution is long overdue and most needed in Ukraine right now, while thousands of LGBTQI+ are serving in the army with a civilian partner back at home. For straight couples, if something happens with a military partner (wounded or killed), a civilian partner will obtain a variety of government benefits, from cash support to housing. In the case of same-sex couples, they are invisible to the government and have no help or recognition. A civilian person has no right to even bury their partner's body. 

The Ukrainian government demonstrates insufficient desire to fix LGBTQI+ inequality LGBTQI+ Ukrainians are equal enough to serve your country but not equal enough to get the same benefits of straight couples, or to receive adequate protections against hate crimes.  The [Union of the LGBT Military in Ukraine ](https://lgbtmilitary.org.ua/eng)(a non-government organization) already includes a few hundred openly LGBTQI+ members and a thousand queer military who follow their activities. While they actively fight to protect the republic, they sincerely hope politicians and government have their back. And as many politicians repeat kumbaya about all Ukrainian soldiers being heroes, it does look like they believe LGBTQI+ heroes don’t need the same benefits or support as their colleagues heterosexual ones.        
 
### Left behind

Historically, the most significant and quickest progress for the LGBTQI+ community in Ukraine has happened (2014-2016) in combination with a few factors: the process of joining a visa-free regime with the Schengen zone and integration into the European Union, the cultural revolution when Ukrainian start to watching more Netflix and Western media than Russian channel, and US government investment of great resources to promoting democratic values, including many cultural and exchange programs which help to bolster civil society and the LGBTQI+ human rights movement in Ukraine.

Unfortunately, with the changing power in the White House in 2016, the US government's priority shifted dramatically, and the Ukrainian LGBTQI+ community was left with markedly less support in the fight for their civil rights with the Ukrainian government, at the same time fighting back against Russian anti-LGBTQ propaganda, the Russian orthodox church’s lobby, and rising right-wing organizations. To add insult to injry,a few representatives from US Congress came down to Kyiv to [participate in a prayer breakfast and lobby for traditional family values](https://tyt.com/reports/inside-the-family/2021/09/15/3Yvns07L9EduF8QQxKKaEq), including banning “gay propaganda”. In fact, a group of US congressmen who came to Ukraine's parliament to lobby for a ban on “LGBTQI+ propaganda ” was led by Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA). The same Rep. Juan Vargas who is a member of the Congressional Equality Caucus and [have 100% score LGBTQI+ friendly](https://hrc-prod-requests.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/117th-Congressional-Scorecard_web.cleaned.pdf) reiting by the organization Human Rights Campaign, a member of the Democratic party (which by many press releases in favor of protection of the LGBTQI+ community abroad) and representing greatest state of California. Until now, it was only a delegation representing US Congress and including [member of Congressional Equality Caucus](https://lgbtq.house.gov/), which made a trip to Ukraine to talk about LGBTQI+ issues, but just sadly, they talk about the need to criminalize the quer community, not share experiences of how the US navigate true many discussion and made gay marriage possible.      

At the same time, the European Union is losing the opportunities to stand for the human rights for LGBTQI+ in Ukraine even though the European Commission and other institutions have a lot of tools in the box to be more actively advocating for equality. Unfortunately, integration into the EU does not require recognition of same-sex marriages, as the EU doesn't regulate marriage standards for members, and after Ukraine passed antidiscrimination legislation and banned the bare minimum of protecting the LGBTQI+ community from discrimination in the workplace, European bureaucrats checked all boxes and lost political interest in any advocacy for the queer community. 

The greatest example was a few weeks window in 2022 when the EU was considering Ukrainian application to become a candidate for a member of the European Union, and the Erocommision passed to the Ukrainian government must to do list which [included the ratification Istanbul Convention](https://www.coe.int/en/web/istanbul-convention/-/ukraine-ratifies-the-istanbul-convention) but failed to mention hate crime bill there, what was already in parliament and ready to vote, even more - less sensitive and controversial then Istanbul Convention (religion organization was massively oppose ratification on affair “gender ideology” and actively pushing back in parliaments many years). 

### The last miles of the equality marathon

Ukraine did make enormous progress toward equality for the LGBTQI+ community in the past. More than that - the newish Ukrainian society is much more tolerant, welcoming, and friendly, and if in 2015, KyivPride had a few hundred activists - the last one counted more than ten thousand participants. Surprisingly, most of them were straight people. Ukraine has the biggest movement of LGBTQI+ soldiers in Europe, the larger parents of [queer children movement](https://tergo.org.ua/), and many more. 

The picture becomes even brighter if you look at the map and realize all regional countries are going backward on LGBTQI+ issues. Belarus and Russia criminalized homosexuality back in their wish to relive the Soviet Union. Still, even Poland has a free LGBTQI+ zone movement where some regional counties declare themself free from the LGBTQI+ community. On that background, Ukraine looks like the most promising and leading country in the region. Only the Ukrainian government took a nap on the last miles of a marathon.  

How can we shake the Ukrainian government and help them stop lingering on the most essential legislation for the LGBTQI+ community, and end the inequality battle in Ukraine? We can start actively using our diplomacy again. For example, Congress can send a delegation to exchange experiences on how they pass the Marriage Equality Act. The White House and State Department can be more proactive in working groups for the implementation of the [U.S.-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership](https://www.state.gov/u-s-ukraine-charter-on-strategic-partnership/), which includes the Ukraine government's obligation to pass the hate crime bill, The Department of Justice can organize education program for its Ukrainian counterpart and help them to learn from the US experience on preventing hate crimes. And as we are a country with the largest number of LGBTQI+ envoys in the government per square foot - can we use them at least once for the greatest good?         
    
### LGBTQI+ as national security for the US

The important nuance that many experts miss - the LGBTQI+ issue in Ukraine and Eastern Europe (and even broader), is a more complicated issue than we think. One of the self-declared reasons Russia justifies its war and invasion of Ukraine is “traditional family values” and their preventing Slavic people from biting [the forbidden fruit of GayEurope](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10758216.2020.1716807). When the Russian army took over Mariupol, the first biggest TV story on the Russian government channels was a video of how they found the “[US strategic center of gays and lesbians in Mariupol](https://focus.ua/uk/voennye-novosti/513517-na-rostv-soobshchili-o-vyyavlenii-v-mariupole-podkontrolnogo-ssha-centra-geev-i-lesbiyanok)”. The fact is that was an office of the [local non-government organization that works with USAID](https://www.facebook.com/tumariupol/posts/3114737118769172/) on humanitarian projects and happens to have some posters from KyivPride. But even this Russian crusade against liberal values in Europe is not so damaging as their professional disinformation, work, and influences on American society with a false narrative. Right at this moment, thousands of Russians somewhere in a troll farm in the Crimea are making sure for the millions of US citizens in the coming election the most important issue will be what restroom to choose instead of social security reform. 

Nina Jankowich, an expert on government strategic communication, in her book [How to Lose the Information War](https://www.wilsoncenter.org/book/how-lose-information-war-russia-fake-news-and-future-conflict) gave a few examples of Russian misinformation campaigns that started in Ukraine but had real consequences on the US presidential election in 2020. She asks a question in her book: “The US and the Western world have finally begun to wake up to the threat of attack from Russia… what can the West do about it?”. 

From my perspective as a Ukrainian by birth, American by choice, and gay by nature, the answer is simple: What if we start not talking about values but implementing them? What if, bit by bit, we will all be together to fight for democratic values and principles? And maybe Russians will never choose another matrix, but our matrix will be stronger and more resilient to the “Evil Empire”.  

Bogdan Globa,
President and co-founder QUA - LGBTQ Ukrainians in America,
Former assistant Human Rights Committee Head in Verkhovna Rada (2014-2016),
co-founder and CEO (2012-2016) larger LGBTQI+ advocacy organization Fulcrum   



STUCK IN LIMBO: THE UKRAINE GOVERNMENT LEAVING THE LGBTQI+ COMMUNITY BEHIND PROGRESS FOR YEARS

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)




Open letter to Representatives Eliot L. Engel and Marcia Carolyn Kaptur

STUCK IN LIMBO: THE UKRAINE GOVERNMENT LEAVING THE LGBTQI+ COMMUNITY BEHIND PROGRESS FOR YEARS

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