QUA–LGBTQ Ukrainians in America, a non-government organization of LGBTQ Ukrainians and their allies in the US, is calling “for American and European queer advocacy organizations to use their considerable voices to raise awareness of the threat a Russian invasion poses to queer Ukrainians,” as they stated in a press release on the eve of the Russian invasion into their homeland.
“American human rights organizations and New York advocates are powerful,” they continued. “We invite you to show your strong and vocal support for the Ukrainian people. With your urgent help, we will encourage US political leadership to pursue the strongest measures possible to protect Ukrainian sovereignty.”
For starters, QUA is organizing a protest against the invasion at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 26, in front of the Stonewall Inn in New York City, but they are also encouraging more calls to action to rise up throughout the United States.
In a separate report from CBS News, Edward Reese, project assistant for Kyiv Pride, said, “Ukraine is a European country. We have a 10-year history of Pride marches, and as you know, in Russia, the situation is like opposite. We have totally different paths. … We see the changes in people’s thoughts about human rights, LGBTQ, feminism and so on. … So definitely we don’t want anything connected to Russia … and we won’t have them.”
“In Russia, LGBTQ people are persecuted,” 18-year-old law student Iulia told CBS. “If we imagine that Russia occupies all of the Ukraine or just a big part of the country, they won’t allow us to exist peacefully and to fight for our rights as we are able to do that in Ukraine right now.”
Tweeted Kyiv Pride yesterday, “To all our supporters in the world: Call on your governments to stand up and take action against the war in Ukraine! We need to stop it now, we need to show how powerful we are together, and Putin will stand no chance!”
More: QUA–LGBTQ Ukrainians in America
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