GLR May-June 2026

to join the EU is a powerful tool for advo cacy. “Currently the political situation is be coming much more favorable for the LGBTQ community. But of course we [are] Ukraini ans and going through everything that all other Ukrainians are going through,” Kravchuk explained. When Donald Trump started his second term, according to Kravchuk, far-right movements in Ukraine were initially boosted by the expected ideological pressure the administration would place on Kyiv. But these ultraconservative groups were soon disappointed, as pushing back against LGBT policies in Ukraine has not been part of U.S. foreign policy. Ustymenko believes that after the Russian aggression against Ukraine ends, there will need to be a long period of recovering and healing. “This wound that we have, it will take generations to heal,” they said. “I’ve kind of accepted the fact that me and my generation are, in a way, a lost generation be cause we’ve been so traumatized. For the fu ture, we need to have the opportunity to heal, care for each other, and, as part of this heal ing process, keep fighting for our rights.” Finbarr Toesland is an award-winning jour nalist committed to illuminating vital human rights stories and underreported issues.

anti-LGBT protests and attacks have been re ported. Ukrainian singer Mélovin, who won a seasonof X-Factor Ukraine and subse quently represented Ukraine at the Eurovi sion Song Contest 2018, came out as bisexual in 2021 via an Instagram post. On February 17th in the western Ukrainian city of Rivne, a group of protesters, some masked, disrupted Mélovin’s concert, shout ing anti-marriage-equality slogans, including “Heroes are not fighting for gay marriages,” which resulted in the performance being can celed. While reporting from a recent Ukrain ian Fashion Week held in Kyiv, I asked an attendee in an eye-catching and elaborate outfit if he would feel comfortable wearing it out on the street. He replied that past experi ence had taught him that doing so would at

tract negative attention and shouts of abuse. For Andrii Kravchuk, a Ukrainian LGBT activist and one of the founders of the Nash Mir (Our World) Gay and Lesbian Centre, the turn toward deeper integration with Eu rope and the West has changed everything about the approach to LGBT rights. “These issues that were rather theoretical before be came practical, as Ukraine must comply with the European human rights standards in this sphere,” he said. “Our most important enemies of the Ukrainian LGBTQ movement currently just can’t afford to openly support Russian discourse on LGBTQ issues.” As the Ukrainian government has taken broad legislative and political steps to shorten the path to EU membership, Kravchuk has found that being a candidate

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