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CONSORTIUM
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Suspilne has prepared a powerful piece about the experiences of LGBTIQ+ people who managed to escape from occupied territories.

These stories vividly demonstrate the particular vulnerability of our community in conditions of war and occupation.

Victoria, a 30-year-old trans woman from the Kherson region, went through absolute hell:

‘I had to let myself go to such an extent that—if they wanted to rape me—they would find it disgusting to do so’, she recalls about life under occupation.

To survive and escape, Victoria had to completely change her appearance, concealing her identity. She grew facial hair, inflated her stomach to imitate a ‘beer belly’ to hide her breasts. She even had to remind her mum:

‘Don’t call me Vika! You have a son. Vasya, Vasya, Vasya’. ‘It didn’t bother me then’, says the girl. ‘The main thing was to get out and survive’.

The story of Vlad from Enerhodar, who worked at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is no less striking:

‘You see Chechens, Dagestanis, Buryats with automatic rifles slung over their shoulders on the streets. And you start to lose your mind’, he describes the atmosphere in the occupied city.

Vlad was forced to hide his homosexuality, fearing violence from the occupiers. He left at home a rainbow flag he once brought from his first pride in Kharkiv and tried ‘not to give himself away’:

‘Not to be mannered, not to stand out in clothing’.

These stories are just the tip of the iceberg. According to activists, about 350 LGBTIQ+ persons have been evacuated from the occupied regions of southern Ukraine. The actual number of those affected remains unknown.

The National LGBT Consortium expresses gratitude to Suspilne journalists for covering this important topic and drawing attention to the problems of LGBTIQ+ people under occupation. These stories remind us of the need to strengthen human rights protection for the LGBTIQ+ community, especially in crisis situations.

The Consortium continues to work on raising visibility of LGBTIQ+ issues and advocating for their rights. We call on society and the authorities to pay attention to the special needs and vulnerabilities of our community, particularly in the context of war and its consequences.

Vlad, who now volunteers at KyivPride, emphasises the importance of passing bill №9103 on civil partnerships:

‘Currently, LGBTQ people in couples are legally nobody to each other. And this is a big trouble’.

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