Olena Shevchenko, a Ukrainian LGBTQIA+ rights activist, said the prospect of Russian occupation of Ukraine terrifies her community, which have fled the country.
Ukrainian LGBTQIA+ activists face frequent abuse and harassment at the hands of far-right groups. Since the Kremlin passed a law prohibiting “gay propaganda” in 2013, Russia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community has faced increasing persecution.
“It won’t be possible (for LGBTQIA+ people) to stay, especially if it’s a long occupation,” says Shevchenko, president of LGBTQIA+ rights organization Insight.
Gay Relationships in Ukraine and Eastern Europe
Although gay sex is legal in Russia, the government frequently threatens to close LGBTQIA+ organizations.
A 2013 law forbids the distribution of “propaganda about non-traditional sexual relationships” among Russian minors.
According to President Vladimir Putin, the move is part of a campaign to defend “traditional values.”
Putin’s attack, the most significant on a European state since WWII, forced thousands of people from their homes.
Many people have fled to the country’s west, away from the escalating violence in the contested eastern regions around Kiev.
Tymur Levchuk, a co-founder of the LGBTQIA+ rights organization Fulcrum, arrived from the capital in the western city of Lviv, near the Polish border, 2 weeks ago with his family.
Same-Sex Relationships in Russia
Until 1993, homosexuality was considered a crime in Russia,
and until 1999, it was considered a mental illness.
So, while there are active homosexual communities in the country’s major cities,
the atmosphere has become more tense since Russia banned basic LGBTQI+ rights.
In 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage.
The president signed legislation in 2021 that allows him to remain in the Kremlin office until 2036.
Trying to Escape Ukraine
As Levchuk explains, “a large number of LGBTQIA+ people are now attempting
to flee Kiev, either to Odessa (in the south) or other cities.”
“LGBTQIA+ people have always felt insecure, but their level of insecurity
has increased significantly.”
However, conservative Orthodox Christians often oppose LGBTQIA+ rights, and far-right extremists regularly target LGBTQIA+ groups.
An anonymous US source claimed Russia would target journalists, activists,
and LGBTQIA+ people after an invasion.
Both Shevchenko and Levchuk said they feared they could be targeted.
Andrii Kravchuk, a researcher with the Nash Mir Center, which monitors anti-LGBTQIA+ violence in Ukraine, said he and his partner were considering relocating
from the country’s capital.
In an email, Kravchuk explained that he and his boyfriend
had already had the experience of living under bomb shelters and that they knew what would happen next.
“It’s difficult to deal with the constant tension while also listening
to all the sounds outside the window.”
Current President of Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelensky is the current President of Ukraine, elected in 2019. Ukraine adopted Martial Law on February 24, 2022, after the invasion of Russia.
A letter of complaint sent by the United States to Chilean Michelle Bachelet, United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, reported that Russia had cataloged its main targets to be killed or detained; gays would be on the list. Subsequently, the Kremlin denied that gays and minorities made up the list of priority targets.
The letter allegedly claimed to target people “who oppose Russian actions” and “vulnerable populations” such as religious and ethnic minorities and gay rights activists.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said: “This is an absolute falsehood. That’s a lie. I know this is totally made up.”
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky Accused of Spreading LGBTQIA+ Ideology
Catholic Italian- Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the Vatican’s former papal nuncio to the United States, accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of catering to a “reform” agenda and using his presidency to promote “LGBTQIA+ ideology” in a 10,000-word essay published two weeks ago.
Vigano also chastised Ukraine’s president, alleging that Zelensky promotes policies that are unpopular, such as gender equality, abortion, and the green economy.
The prelate then cited the acceptance of LGBTQIA+people as a major reason for Russia’s invasion, echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justifications for attacking Ukraine.
According to the Archbishop, the Ukrainian President was a mediocre actor and comedian who rose to power by blaming “deep state” forces in the United States, the European Union, and NATO for sparking the current conflict and demonizing Russia.
According to Vigano, “Neo-Nazi movements engaged in military and paramilitary actions operate freely in Ukraine, frequently with the official support of public institutions.”
This echoes the lies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who used World War II to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, claiming in televised remarks two weeks ago that his offensive aimed to “denazify” the country, whose democratically elected president is Jewish and lost relatives in the Holocaust, according to NPR.
“The goal of this operation is to protect people who have been subjected to humiliation and genocide by the Kyiv regime for the past eight years,” Russian President Putin said, according to an English translation from the Russian Mission in Geneva.
“To that end, we will seek to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to justice those who committed numerous bloody crimes against civilians, including Russian Federation citizens.”
Defending Russia’s Invasion
The Archbishop’s essay defending Russia’s invasion came after Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a Putin ally, reiterated a long-held belief that the West wants to impose the practice of holding gay pride parades as a test of loyalty to its values, which include acceptance of homosexuality.
The Ukraine war, he said in his sermon two weeks ago, was caused by the refusal of the eastern regions to acquiesce.
“If humanity accepts that sin is not a violation of God’s law, that sin is a variation of human behavior, then human civilization will end there,” Kirill said on Forgiveness Sunday, a pre-Lenten celebration.
Vigan’s letter portrayed Ukraine’s president as an E.U. puppet.
“The image of Zelenskyy is an artificial product, a mediatic fiction, an operation to manipulate consensus that was nonetheless able to create a political character in the Ukrainian collective imagination and who was able to seize power in reality, not in fiction,”
The Archbishop wrote to Ukraine’s president.
Committing a Violation of Human Rights
Vigano resigned after arranging Pope Francis’ contentious 2015 meeting with Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Kentucky clerk who went to jail rather than comply with a court order to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
The backstory behind some of the later Vatican drama after the Pope was informed of the true nature of Kim Davis and the meeting was revealed in a New York Times story.
According to the newspaper’s reporting, the schism between Francis and Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigan, who wrote a shocking accusatory letter about Francis’ knowledge of the abuse, may have been exacerbated by Vigan arranging a meeting between Francis and Davis during Francis’ 2015 trip to the United States.
According to the New York Times, the invitation “directly challenged Francis’ inclusive message and sparked a controversy that nearly overshadowed the trip.”
An abuse survivor who spoke with Francis for a long time told the newspaper that Francis told him Vigan nearly ruined the trip.
“I had no idea who she was, and he snuck her in to say hello to me — and of course they made a big deal out of it,” Juan Carlos Cruz recalled Francis saying, according to the New York Times.
According to the Newspaper, Francis said, “And I was horrified, and I fired that nuncio.”
Pope Francis Was Accused
Archbishop Vigan accused Pope Francis of heresy in July 2020 for promoting the “legitimization of homosexuality.”
According to Newsweek, “Vigano becomes well known for his anti-gay views and has previously called for the pope’s resignation.”
In a recent interview with Italian journalist and Vatican expert Marco Tosatti, Vigano insisted that Pope Francis, also known as Jorge Bergoglio, became involved in a plot to “corrupt” the church by promoting homosexuality.
“Sodomy, according to Bergoglio and his entourage, is not a sin that cries out for vengeance in the presence of God, as the Catechism teaches,” Vigano said.
“Bergoglio’s words on this topic – and, more importantly, the actions and words of those around him – unfortunately confirm that a legitimization operation of homosexuality is currently underway.”
“Let us not forget that the legitimization of homosexuality is part of the New World Order agenda – to which the Bergoglian church openly and unconditionally adheres,” he later added.
“Not only because of its destabilizing value in the social body, but also because sodomy is the primary instrument with which the Enemy intends to destroy the Catholic priesthood by corrupting the souls of God’s Ministers.”
Religious Leaders Interfere in Protecting the LGBTQIA+ Community in Russia
The Russian Orthodox Church leader, Patriarch Kirill, blamed gay pride marches and Western liberal values for the Russian invasion of Ukraine in his sermon.
For the patriarch, the war is about “whose side of God will humanity be.” It thus places “proponents of gay pride events” as well as “Western governments that allow them” and those who oppose these values in pro-Russian eastern Ukraine (the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk) on two different sides. ), according to the newspaper The Moscow Times.
“Pride marches become designed to demonstrate that sin results as variation of human behavior. That’s why, to join the club in these countries, you have to have a gay pride march,” he said in his ‘Forgiveness Sunday’ sermon.
For Kirill, the gay pride marches were a “test of loyalty” to Western governments, and Ukraine’s breakaway republics “fundamentally rejected [that test].”
Accusing LGBTQIA+ Pride of Being Responsible for the War
According to the Orthodox Church leader, the West organizes genocide in countries that refuse to manage this type of marches, and as there were no gay marches in Donbass, a war started.
And it goes further. Kirill argues that “if humanity accepts that sin is not a violation of God’s law, if humanity accepts that sin is a variation of human behavior, then human civilization will end there.”
Remember that Russia launched a military offensive against Ukraine in the early hours of February 24 under the pretext of wanting to “denazify” the country.
According to the Kyiv authorities, the war has already lasted 12 days and has killed more than 2,000 civilians, and has already caused 11,000 casualties among Russian soldiers, information that the Kremlin does not confirm.
According to the UN, the attacks also caused more than 1.7 million people to flee to neighboring countries. With this at hand, these numbers could increase. Moreover, creating the biggest refugee crisis in Europe in the last few years.
The international community condemned the Russian invasion in general, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and reinforcing economic sanctions on Moscow.
Transwomen Are Banned from Crossing the Ukrainian Border into Poland
According to a report published this Tuesday (22) in the British newspaper “The Guardian,” transgender women have been facing difficulties crossing the border from Ukraine to Poland because officials do not recognize their gender identity. On February 24, Ukraine enacted a law mandating that men aged 18 to 60 become prohibited from leaving the country.
Since then, human rights activists reported that trans women, even with certificates proving their gender change, are becoming banned from crossing the border.
The Guardian spoke to Judis, a transgender woman who tried to leave the country on March 12 but became stopped by soldiers. “You are a man, get out of here,” one of the guards told the Ukrainian woman, who has all the legal documents that identify her as a woman.
“He told me that I should be grateful they didn’t call the police, even though I have a legal document that proves I’m a woman.” Judis is from Svatone, but moved to the capital Kiev before Russian forces occupied her hometown.
To facilitate the process of leaving civilians, the Ukrainian government itself instructed border authorities to recognize the identity documents of anyone trying to leave the country, which increases.
War Closes Clinics, Halts Delivery of HIV Drugs in Ukraine
In underground shelters and makeshift clinics, Ukrainian doctors are struggling to keep treatment for people living with HIV on track. Furthermore, the invasion of Russia raises fears that years of progress in fighting the virus could become undone.
Russian bombings and fighting closed HIV clinics in two Ukrainian cities and forced others to limit their services, a leading nonprofit said, while the supply and distribution of vital antiretroviral drugs is also at risk.
“(The war is) making people with HIV more vulnerable to everything,” Valeriia Rachynska, head of human rights at the Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV group, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a WhatsApp call.
War and Public Health
