LGBTQ+military personnel at the Kyiv Pride parade in the Ukrainian capital on Sunday. KYIV — Pride in Ukraine is no longer just about defending and celebrating the right to love whom you choose. Like everything else here, it’s also about resisting Russia.
But as a lesbian, she — and other LGBTQ soldiers — don’t qualify for the same rights and benefits as heterosexual troops. LGBTQ+ individuals can serve openly in Ukraine’s armed forces. But several laws that would advance LGBTQ+ rights in Ukraine, including one that would expand hate crimes definitions to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and another that would allow same-sex civil partnerships, have stalled in parliament. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry declined to comment on the unequal treatment of soldiers, saying it was an issue for parliament.
When they shouted at her to go back to the front, she replied: “Can I actually have a little break from that?” Once the crowd dispersed, far-right demonstrators flooded the streets to protest LGBTQ+ rights in their own parade. Growing up in Mariupol, she never felt she had the choice to be herself. “Mariupol is a conservative city,” she said. “There’s no pride like in Kyiv — you could actually even be hit in your head for being open, and that’s the minimum.”