Non-Profit Soapbox

We proudly stand with the LGBTQI community and other vulnerable groups and democracy activists in Ukraine who are preparing for long-term resistance, and with LGBTQI groups in neighboring countries who are mobilizing support.

Ukraine’s LGBTQI Community Since the Invasion

Olena Shevchenko, Washington Blade, “LGBTQ Ukrainians Will Do Our Best to Resist Russia”

Democracy Now, “Report from Kyiv: LGBTQ Activist Says Ukrainians are United in Resisting Russia.”

Colin Stewart, 76 Crimes, “LGBTQ Ukrainians Take Stand Against Invasion”

Colin Stewart, 76 Crimes, “Ukraine’s LGBTQ Community Joins Fight Against Russian Invaders”

Beatrice Fanucci, GCN, “Ukrainian LGBTQ+ Activists Join Resistance Against Russia”

Lauren Frayer, NPR Weekend Edition, “Some LGBTQ Ukrainians are fleeing Russian occupation. Others are signing up to fight”

Matthew Mpoke Bigg, New York Times, “L.G.B.T.Q. Activists in Ukraine Share the Fight Against Russia's Invasion”

Hugo Greenhalgh, Openly, “Ukraine LGBTQ+ Community in Fear After Russian Assault”

Enrique Anarte, Openly, “Trans and Non-Binary People Trapped in War-Torn Ukraine”

Ben Hunte, Vice, “Trans People Stranded and Alone in Ukraine Following Russia’s Invasion”

Michael K. Lavers, Washington Blade, “Russian Airstrike Kills Ukrainian LGBTQ Activist” Elvira Schemur

Michael K. Lavers, Washington Blade, “Four Ukraine LGBTQ Activists Attacked Inside Kyiv Office”

Michael K. Lavers, Washington Blade, “Ukraine LGBTQ Activist [Elena Shevchenko] Flees Kyiv”

Michael K. Lavers, Washington Blade, “Warlord Who Persecuted Gay Chechens Killed in Ukrainian Fighting”

Ukrainian LGBTQI Refugees and European Support  

Victor Madrigal-Borloz, United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, “Ukraine: Protection of LGBTI and Gender-Diverse Refugees Remains Critical — UN Expert”

Josh Milton, Pink News, “Queer African People Fleeing Ukraine Are Facing ‘Intersecting Violence,’ Campaigners Have Warned”

Madeleine Carlisle, Time, “After Fleeing Ukraine, LGBTQ Refugees Search for Safety in Countries Hostile to Their Rights”

Michael K. Lavers, Washington Blade, “European LGBTQ Activists Stand in Solidarity with Ukraine Counterparts”

U.S. Government Response

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), “Quigley, Equality Caucus Urge Secretary Blinken to Protect LGBTQ+ Rights in Ukraine”

Michael K. Lavers, Washington Blade, “White House Reiterates Concern for LGBTQ Ukrainians After Russia Invasion”

Michael K. Lavers, Washington Blade, “U.S. Provides Support to LGBTQ Groups in Ukraine, Surrounding Countries”

John Hudson and Missy Ryan, “U.S. Claims Russia Has List of Ukrainians ‘To Be Killed or Sent To Camps’ Following a Military Occupation” + Washington Post,“Read: U.S. Letter to the U.N. Alleging Russia is Planning Human Rights Abuses in Ukraine.”

Russian Anti-LGBTQI Politics Setting the Stage

Rémy Bomy, LGBTQ Nation, “Russia Tested the West By Attacking Ukrainian LGBTQ People First. Europe & America Looked Away.”

J. Lester Feder, Vanity Fair, “‘People Are Not Coming Back to the Closet’: The Fight for Ukraine is Also a Fight for LGBTQ Rights”

Emil Edenborg, Boston Review, "Putin's Anti-Gay War on Ukraine"

Natalia Antelava, CNN, “Why Did the West Take So Long to Wake Up to Putin’s Outrages?”

The Moscow Times, “Russian Church Leader Appears to Blame Gay Pride Parades for Ukraine War”

Daniel Schultz, Religion Dispatches, “Kirill’s Sermon May Be Bad Preaching and Even Worse Theology, But It’s a Top-Notch Rejection of Liberal Democracy”

Brittney Griner

Will Leitch, New York, “Why Isn’t Brittney Griner the Biggest Sports Story in the Country?”

Dave Zirin, The Nation, “Free Brittney Griner”

Ukraine’s LGBTQI Community Before the War

Natalie Vikhrov, Openly,“‘Constantly Pursued’: Ukraine’s LGBT+ Activists Attacked Online and In the Street”

Michael K. Lavers, Washington Blade, “Ukraine Pledges to Fight Anti-LGBTQ Discrimination”

Maryna Shevtsova, Kyiv-Mohyla Law and Politics Journal, “Learning the Lessons from the Euromaidan: The Ups and Downs of LGBT Activism in the Ukrainian Public Sphere”

Maryna Shevtsova, Problems of Post-Communism, “Fighting ‘Gayropa’: Europeanization and Instrumentalization of LGBTI Rights in Ukrainian Public Debate”

Jesse Sanchez, Cornell International Affairs Review, “A Silent Dissonance: LGBT Rights & Geopolitics in Maidan and Post-Maidan Ukraine”

Bogdan Globa, EU Observer, “One Year After Euromaidan: What’s Changed for Gay Rights?”

Supporting Ukraine’s LGBTQI Community

OutRight Action International, “Donate to Support LGBTIQ Ukrainians”

ILGA Europe, “Support for LGBTI People in Ukraine”

Ursula Muñoz-Schaefer, XTRX, “LGBTQ+ Ukrainians Are in Trouble. Here’s How You Can Help”

Colin Stewart, 76Crimes.com, “How to Help LGBTQ+ Ukrainians at Home, in Poland, in Germany, in Czech Republic”