LGBT troops on Ukraine's front line fight homophobia at home

 

One corner of Kyiv’s symbolic central square is now carpeted in thousands of tiny blue and yellow flags, in tribute to Ukraine’s fallen soldiers. Earlier this month, a group of activists gathered to add a different type of flag to the ever-growing collection. They had unicorns in their centre, to represent each gay soldier that had been killed in the war.

The deaths of LGBT soldiers in Ukraine have exposed an inequality. They do not have the same rights as heterosexual troops. Gay marriage is illegal, meaning when these soldiers are killed, their partners do not have the right to decide what happens to their bodies, nor are they entitled to state support.

A 30-year-old costume designer, Rodion, had come to plant a flag in honour of his former boyfriend Roman, who was killed in the early months of the invasion, the day before his 22nd birthday.

Roman and five others from his brigade died in a missile attack near Kupiansk, close to Kharkiv, after a local family leaked their position to the Russians.

“All this death, all this blood, it’s the same, whether you’re heterosexual or homosexual," Rodion said, but he was abruptly cut short by the familiar whir of air raid sirens.

“See?” he continued, pointing to the sky. "Missiles can kill us in the same way they can everyone else." The war has injected an urgency into the fight for equality. “I’ve waited 30 years, I can’t wait another 30, because I can’t guarantee I’ll be alive when this ends," Rodion said.

Attitudes to LGBT rights have shifted enormously over the past decade, as Ukraine has embraced European values, though many still hold socially conservative and even homophobic views.

Having openly gay people fighting and dying on the front line has further challenged people’s prejudices. But meaningful change is harder to see.

Hopes were high last spring, when a bill to allow same-sex couples to have civil partnerships was introduced to parliament, but 14 months later it has stalled.

Meanwhile, LGBT soldiers have reported being bullied and harassed in their units.

When Mariya Volya nearly died defending her hometown of Mariupol in 2022, now under Russian occupation, she decided it was time to come out.

Although the 31-year-old had been serving in the army since 2015, the full-scale Russian invasion shifted her threshold for fear. Revealing her sexuality was no longer something she was afraid to reveal.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1140yv03po