The Fight for LGBT Rights in Ukraine
LGBT Rights in Ukraine? Not Really.
Tucked away in the basement of an unassuming building in downtown Kiev is the unmarked offices a small NGO, the Gay Alliance Ukraine (GAU). It is here that another kind of battle is being fought in Ukraine. Unlike the conflict in the east of the country, between Russia, Russian backed separatists and Ukrainian troops, this battle receives far less press coverage. It is here that Ukraine’s LGBT community fights for their rights within Ukrainian society.
It is not uncommon for LGBT activists in Ukraine to face physical attacks from far right extremists. Taras Karasiichuk is one such activist and he has personally survived three. Taras’ began work as an LGBT activist in 2005, and joined GAU in 2011, where he is now the executive director of the organization. 10 years on, despite the optimism in the Western Press about Ukraine’s new pro-western government and pivot towards the EU, Taras isn’t feeling very optimistic when we sit down in his office over tea. The attacks against him over the years have left him visually shaken.
The first attack came in 2012, when after a concert Taras was attacked on the street. That time he was lucky. He was able to jump inside a taxi and flee to safety, but one of his colleagues wasn’t so lucky, and was beaten in the street that night. One month later, outside his home, a second attack came, this one successful. Taras was savagely beaten, leaving him with a broken jaw. Then again, in February2013, a third attack. This time, six men tried to jump him while he was walking down the street. On this occasion he was able to take refuge inside a nearby restaurant and call the police, but the attackers still managed to trash the outside of the restaurant, smashing windows and terrifying everyone inside.
The impact of living under the threat of this level of violence has clearly been exhausting for him. I ask the question anyway, but I can already tell how he feels by the look in his eyes and his body language – Taras is getting tired. His words confirm it. “I am quite burnt out. I continue to do this work but I am just happy not to be doing it alone.”
Just the day before our interview on May 14th, 2015, a colleague of his, who organized a banner campaign around Kiev to promote the rights and acceptance ofLGBT people in Ukraine, received a death threat via a right wing extremist website. Taras’ own experiences with the far right have taught him to take their threats seriously.
In post revolution Ukraine, assassinations of prominent opposition figures in the public eye have occurred in broad daylight in the middle of Kiev. An opposition government minister and an opposition journalist were both gunned down in separate attacks.The online threat stated that Taras’ colleague would be next.
The attacks, so far, aren’t directed equally to any and all members of the LGBT community; rather, they have been focused towards activists and overt LGBT symbols in the public eye.
Last October, the oldest cinema in Kiev was fire bombed during the screening of a French film, Les Nuits d’Ete, dealing with LGBTissues. The official government line was that the fire set was over a financial dispute between the cinema’s operator and its owner, but Taras doesn’t believe this for a minuet. “The people who attacked the cinema said openly that the attack was because of the LGBT film being screened. The government had some other opinions about the fire, but I think that they are just interested in the land to build something else there instead.”
While the US has finally legalized gay marriage in all 50 states, it isn’t even on the radar yet for Taras. Ukraine can’t even safely host a gay pride parade, which was subject to violent attacks from far right groups in 2014, and again this year.
The parade is branded as an “equality march” rather than a western style parade. According to a GAU report posted after the march in mid-June, while the police were able to protect the participants while the event was taking place, after the march ended, nine separate participants were violently attacked as they were leaving the area. The injuries varied from bruises to a broken nose and a suspected concussion. One victim reportedly cried out for help, but no by-standers intervened on his behalf.
For Taras, just gaining legal protection, which is then enforced, is the first priority. Personal security is a pretty low bar by western standards, but that’s the reality in Ukraine today.
In Canada, by comparison, gay marriage has now been legal for nearly a decade, and gay pride events have become mainstream cultural staples in many cities, like Toronto’s gay pride parade, attracts the support of even the city’s conservative mayors.
Even here, however, LGBT rights still hold a contentious place among some sects of society. According to a 2014 StatsCan report based on data from 2012, out of all hate based crimes in Canada, those directed against the LGBT community are the most likely to be violent. Of all hate-based crimes directed against theLGBT community, over 60 per cent had an aspect of violence, where the majority of crimes directed towards religious or racial minorities involved some level of vandalism against private property, not physical violence.
Here in Montreal, I live only a short walk away from Le Village, the hub of the LGBT community here. There, the neighbourhood openly celebrates its LGBT identity with everything from flags to advertisements to a pride parade. On the streets of Kiev, I was much more likely to find a swastika, and yes, I saw many, sprayed on the wall of a metro tunnel or underpass than anything overtly LGBT. This is something Canadians might want to keep in mind since our Prime Minister has been such a vocal supporter of the new Ukrainian government. We need to ask ourselves, is the government there really our cultural and ideological alley, or just the enemy of our enemy, Putin?
I asked Taras what kind of work he would like to do if he ever quit his work as an activist; “Soulless work. Maybe something like an accountant or financial manager. Work without a soul. But I will always stay engaged.”
Despite the violence and the frail, tired look in his eyes, Taras has no plans to look for that type of work anytime soon. “Once you’ve engaged in civil society, its impossible to quit entirely. No matter what my day job is, I will always be engaged in society.”
As I walked out of the nondescript office building, I began to feel the weight of our conversation. More than his words, it was the look in Tara’s eyes as he explained the attacks to me. His jaw might have heeled, but he carries some deep scars inside, both from the attacks he has survived and the constant threat he lives under of being the victim of yet another.