The Ukrainians were among tens of thousands of LGBTQ activists who took part in the Pride march in the Polish capital on Saturday, in a country home to tens of thousands of Ukrainians who fled the Russian invasion.
However, the march began with a minute’s silence for two people who were killed in a shootout near a gay bar in Norway’s capital Oslo in the early hours of Saturday.
Norwegian police have arrested a man suspected of “Islamist terrorism” over the shooting that also injured 21 and led to Oslo’s Pride being cancelled.
But Norway’s ambassador to Poland, Anders Eide, said love and justice would “prevail”.
“Our fight for equal rights for all and our support for the LGBTQ+ community is clear and will remain so,” he told AFP at the start of the procession.
Lenny Emson, Director of Kyiv Pride, thanked Warsaw Pride and the Polish community for including Ukrainian LGBTQ activists in their parade.
Emson said Ukraine’s LGBTQ community wants their rights to survive, but for this to happen the war in Ukraine must stop.
Poland has taken by far the most Ukrainian refugees within the European Union – more than 1.1 million according to the latest UN figures.
Warsaw Pride is being held with the full support of the city’s Liberal Mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski.
But other parts of the country, ruled by a right-wing government, are less open to gender or sexual minorities.
In 2020, the international non-governmental organization ILGA-Europe ranked Poland 44th out of 49 European countries in respecting LGBTQ rights.
– Small gathering in Kyiv –
In the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, dozens of remaining members of the LGBTQ community held a small gathering at a downtown nightclub.
Inside, a couple wrapped in a yellow and blue Ukrainian flag hugged while dancers performed on stage to the tunes of the villagers’ “YMCA.”
“The most important thing is to accept people for who they are,” says 28-year-old Victoria Myhoula. People should focus primarily on “what we can do today to help our country.”
Almost four months after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the European Union on Thursday granted the war-torn country candidate status.
“As we approach the European Union, we have to show that society is open,” added Myhoula in Ukraine.
The nightclub’s sponsor, Oleksiy Krasnenko, 26, said he was proud to donate part of his proceeds to the Ukrainian army to help repel the Russian invasion.
“Ukraine is a free, open country,” he said, but admitted there had been some discrimination.
During the last Kyiv Pride before the coronavirus pandemic in 2019, police were deployed en masse as far-right and Orthodox Christian activists staged counter-protests.
Saturday’s event, while low-key, attracted a small group of young men in military garb who sparked a brief fight outside the venue. The police quickly broke it up.
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