The organisers of Kyiv Pride, Ukraine’s biggest LGBT+ rights event, stood on the roof of a building in a slick video and asked the country’s new president: “Will you be the first Ukrainian president to join the Equality March and support human rights”? While President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not join the event on 23 June, thousands of others from all walks of society did, many demonstrating that patriotism and LGBT+ rights are complementary values. What’s more, several cultural and political leaders spoke out in support of LGBT+ rights, rejecting violence for the first time - a sign that support for LGBT+ rights in Ukraine is at a turning point.
President Zelenskyy ended up issuing a statement on the day of the Equality March, calling for law enforcement to guarantee the security of everyone during the event. The President’s statement, likely muted in the heat of a campaign to win a parliamentary majority on 21 July, was a still a major improvement on the previous president’s one and only public comment on pride in 2015. Zelenskyy’s statement was preceded by an even stronger one from the Kyiv city government, which pledged support for tolerance and called a safe Equality March “an opportunity to demonstrate that Kyiv is a true European capital.” Prominent cultural personalities, such as singer and musician Pianoboy, as well as actress Olha Sumska, also spoke out in support of Kyiv Pride this year.
At least 6,800 people participated in the Equality March, around double last year’s turnout. Participants were young and old, queer and straight, Ukrainian and foreign, all blissfully expressing their support for LGBT+ rights chanting slogans such as “Our tradition is freedom!” and “Rebel, love, and don’t give up your rights!” The feeling was electric, and in many ways the protest and slogans evoked both the elation and defiance of the 2014 Revolution of Dignity protests which toppled the previous government.
