April 13, 2022

Precious shelter during the war. Ukrainian human rights organization Fulcrum organized shelters in Lviv for LGBTQ people and others

Tymur Levchuk, the cofounder of Fulcrum like every Ukrainian, contributes to the common victory over the Russian invaders. Together with his colleagues, he opened two shelters in Lviv and gave many people the opportunity to be safe. It is difficult to find accommodation in Lviv during the war, especially for men, and in the dormitories of Fulcrum, one can live and eat for free. Tymur told QUA how they came up with the project, who is financing it, and what is ahead of Ukrainian LGBT people after the war.

4gvZFzuZcToHv3w3lazYt76ZPbX_nJ_vMx2iwMTa4xxl4RjgikkCfU_AMuw5JhJVBo8N1C6i8BMAqSVE73xiCbmR_9P4cCQ2GYSszkCvVOxcLnQ7XVLGVohUMHBA

I arrived in Lviv a week before the war. My husband moved there because of work, and I followed him. However, on the night of February 24, I went back to Kyiv, where we had an event with Fulcrum - rewarding a business that supports human rights. It was to begin at eleven o’clock in the morning, and the shelling began earlier - at five. It was completely unexpected, no one believed that the war would really happen. For two hours I just sat and thought about what to do next, trying to find a basement to hide, but Kyiv was not ready for shelling - the basements were closed. The only option for shelter was the subway, which still had to be reached. As a result, at seven in the morning, my sister took me by car, and we drove back to Lviv. Due to traffic jams, the road took almost a day.

For the first week, my colleague Anton and I did not know what to do. But then our local friends offered us their office space, where we organized our first shelter. The office was not designed for people to live there, so we started to equip it - we bought a boiler, found a shower, and took care of plumbing, microwave, multicooker, and water filters. We organized stocks of food and drinking water in the shelter. Later we opened a second shelter, which was located in the former bar. We were not sure about it because we didn’t want people to live in the basement - it was chilly and there was little light. However, the intensity of air alarms increased in Lviv, and we saw all the benefits of this shelter: people could sleep all night and not run away. We loved this shelter. When Biden came to Poland and Lviv was heavily shelled, we spent many hours there, cooked dinner together with its residents, it was very atmospheric.

Who lives in Fulcrum’s shelters?

Our organization has advocated inclusive policies all its life. We opened shelters with a focus on LGBT+ people, but then those who supported us as allies and their relatives began to turn to us. I think it is not fair to refuse such people. Currently, both members of the LGBT community and those who do not belong to it live in our shelters. We immediately tell new residents that you can meet transgender people here, so it’s better to ask how to address the person - you may think it’s a girl, but in fact, it’s a guy. This is great because even in such a strange way, we have retained our educational function. Ordinary Ukrainians have the opportunity to spend the night with LGBT people in the same room, cook with them and get a positive experience from such coexistence.

Many people stop here temporarily, traveling abroad through Lviv. They need to wash their clothes, sleep, eat, pull their thoughts, and move on. There are about twenty people. Eighteen people now live with us permanently. These are mostly men or transgender people with a male marker in their passport who cannot leave Ukraine. If they manage to find a permanent apartment, we are happy, because, despite all our efforts, the shelter can not provide private space. And although the vast majority of people living in shelters fled the war, we have one guy from the Lviv region. He had a confrontation with his parents, and they kicked him out of the house. It is possible that there will be more such residents in the shelter, because many people from the LGBT community are returning to live with their parents from big cities, and there may be conflicts between them. We are ready to accept such people.

In addition to accommodation, we provide financial assistance. People can fill out a form and get about fifty dollars. With an average Ukrainian salary of five hundred dollars, this is not a large amount, but it can be used for anything, we do not control it. We can also provide additional money, for example, for medicines for people with chronic diseases. We ask them to confirm such purchases with a check.

Screen Shot 2022-04-13 at 8.31.24 AM

Financing and support

We were first funded by the Sidaction, a French HIV prevention fund. From the very beginning of the war, they allowed the distribution of funds so as to make repairs in the shelters and buy the necessary appliances. We have received assistance from QUA, Kyiv Munich Queer, and the Swedish LGBT organization RFSL, and such organizations as Lush and the American OutRight also plan to support us. Now everything is structured, and in the beginning, there was no structure. We did not plan how much money we should spend on certain needs, we bought everything spontaneously. For example, in one week we bought products for a thousand dollars because we did not understand whether they will be on store shelves: the variety of products is shrinking, and no one knows how long it will last. In addition, everything is only getting more expensive, and we no longer have money - we exchange dollars at the rate set by the National Bank. We currently have funds for at least three months for shelters to be operating. The money covers rent, utilities, food, and water.

We also use the funding we have for humanitarian initiatives that focus on the military. We help in terms of logistics as loaders and communicators. There are organizations that deal purely with military assistance, and we help them: we can transfer products and first aid kits that we find and buy in Europe. We also support other people who open shelters for the community and allies. The LGBT group is vulnerable, but we must stand in solidarity with everyone. When they help us, they don’t ask which group we belong to, and we come from the same position.

I urge all LGBT people who have the opportunity to go abroad to do so

We focus on shelters primarily because it is very difficult for men in the western regions to find accommodation. Even if it is a family, the wife and children can find where to stay but the husband most likely will not have this possibility. I am not saying that the people of Lviv unanimously believe that everyone should go to the front line, but you can feel the atmosphere. I do not agree with this, because a person can be much more useful on the home front. If the person is able to organize logistics and bring two hundred bulletproof vests every month, then the benefits of it are greater than in the army. But for that, people need to feel protected.

Although men are also different. There are people like me and my colleague who volunteer and bring humanitarian aid. But there are other, usually well-off people who live in the most expensive hotels in Lviv and instead of helping, sit in cafes and drink coffee. This raises many questions, because the country is at war, and this man in his car could at least bring food or people from the station. Many drivers now transport displaced people to Lviv for free. If you are already in this city, do something, because there are never too many hands.

However, I urge all LGBT people who have the opportunity to go abroad to do so. There is a rational argument for this: the infrastructure of Western Ukraine is not designed for such a large number of people. The EU is fully prepared to give the community the right to live there for at least a year, and this removes a huge number of infrastructure issues. According to official data, 200,000 people came to Lviv. I can see that garbage is not removed in time, because it is several times more than usual, in the city center there are constant traffic jams. All these people need to be fed, which means that the humanitarian aid keeps on coming (and also gets stuck in traffic jams). If people can go to Europe and live there in peace, and ideally find a job and support the Ukrainian army, let them do it.

It is better for LGBT people to leave Ukraine for other reasons as well. We do not know when the war will end, but we know that there will be economic hardship, and the unemployment level will rise. In addition, post-war societies always tend to become conservative. There is no country in which war has taken place and liberal values ​​have flourished since then because those values are somehow combined with economic success. I believe that after the war, LGBT people will not be a priority for the government. Due to the hardships, the level of aggression will increase, and there will be more hate crimes than before the war. Will the police have enough capacity to fight this?

Let’s not forget that Ukrainians have been given a lot of weapons, and who knows if there is a mechanism for how to remove these weapons later. But I can imagine that if we want to organize a pride, people who will oppose will come out with machine guns. Given these arguments, it is better to go to European countries, where you can get an education, learn a language, find a job, and support relatives who have stayed here. And then come back and rebuild Ukraine with the acquired skills.

We seek to assist Ukrainian LGBTQ + individuals living in the US and Canada to integrate, adapt, and productively contribute to American society.

January 22, 2023

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

Read more

January 14, 2023

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

Read more

December 2, 2022

Is Ukraine the Liberal Island in Eastern Europe?

Read more

November 22, 2022

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

Read more

November 15, 2022

Photo exhibition LGBTIQ+ in defense of Ukraine

Read more

October 17, 2022

“США для мене стала країною, де я шукав прихистку та порятунку”

Read more

October 5, 2022

Як знайти роботу мігрантам у США: поради експерта

Read more

September 27, 2022

The butterfly effect: What Americans think about war in Ukraine

Read more

June 9, 2022

Coalition for investigating Russian anti-LGBTQ propaganda and hate crimes in Ukraine

Read more

June 5, 2022

Uniting for Ukraine program for LGBTQ community

Read more

June 5, 2022

QUA extend programs for support Uranian LGBTQI+ community

Read more

May 11, 2022

«Для того, щоб українці могли отримати допомогу, я заговорив польською». Українець Володимир Сенко працює у польському Червоному Хресті і відправляє на Батьківщину вантажі з гуманітарною допомогою

Read more

May 4, 2022

Activists of the human rights organization Kyiv Pride during the war times support the LGBT+ community, raise money for the army, and work on the media front.

Read more

May 1, 2022

“Ukraine has a much easier gender transition process compared to many European countries”

Read more

April 14, 2022

“I am pleasantly surprised how Romania welcomed us”. Irpin resident Maria Tiekuch fled the war to volunteer in Europe

Read more

April 7, 2022

My mission is to help those who need support. Public activist Anna Medko has become a “hotline” for all those who are scared of war

Read more

April 1, 2022

Attack on LGBTQ organization in Kyiv

Read more

April 1, 2022

Queer Ukrainian Activists and Allies Organize White House Rally, Call for Full Protections for Queer Ukrainian Refugees

Read more

April 1, 2022

US Temporary Shelter Assistance Program for Ukrainian LGBTQ Community from QUA

Read more

March 31, 2022

Lack of hormonal medications and inability to cross the border: The problems Ukrainian trans people face during the war

Read more

March 26, 2022

QUA to organize April 3 LGBTQI-Ukrainian Solidarity Rally

Read more

March 22, 2022

Officer of Armed Forces of Ukraine: “Hiding in the subway is worse than being on the front line”

Read more

March 9, 2022

QUA responds to Russian war and aggression in Ukraine

Read more

March 1, 2022

How to donate

Read more

February 26, 2022

Aid Network for LGBTQ Ukrainian refugees

Read more

February 23, 2022

Queer Ukrainian Activists and Allies to Gather at Stonewall Inn, Denounce Russian Aggression Toward Ukraine

Read more

February 21, 2022

Nina Jankowicz about why Russia uses LGBT+ issue domestically and abroad

Read more

February 21, 2022

Viktor Pylypenko

Read more

October 1, 2021

Bogdan Globa: HOW RUSSIA EXPORTS HOMOPHOBIA INTO UKRAINE

Read more

June 14, 2021

Communication with QUA

Read more

January 20, 2021

QUA та hive.report запускають унікальний портал з інклюзивної політики

Read more

December 7, 2020

Biden-Harris Administration: Will their time in office become a renaissance for the LGBTQ community and human rights in Ukraine?

Read more

November 10, 2020

Ukraine: The liberal honeymoon for LGBTQ is over.

Read more

October 10, 2020

US political asylum 2020 – what you need to know

Read more

August 13, 2020

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

Read more

June 16, 2020

QUA: OUR ONLINE PRIDE 2020

Read more

June 9, 2020

QUA – LGBTQ Ukrainians in America are officially registered like a NGO

Read more

June 5, 2020

Justice for one is justice for all

Read more

June 1, 2020

QUA is working on the report about Russian anti-LGBTQ propaganda in Ukraine and Eastern Europe

Read more