Europe
European LGBTQ activists stand in solidarity with Ukraine counterparts
EuroPride fundraiser has raised more than $17,000
LGBTQ activists across Europe continue to stand in solidarity with their counterparts in Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion of their country.
“We are ready to host LGBT+ people from Ukraine here,” said Anastasia Danilova, executive director of Genderdoc-M, an LGBTQ rights group in Moldova, which borders Ukraine, told the Washington Blade on Sunday. “We will provide all necessary support: Accommodation, meals, counseling and medical support.”
Genderdoc-M members on Feb. 24 participated in a protest outside the Russian Embassy in Chisinau, the Moldovan capital.
Danilova described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “crazy guy.” Danilova also noted Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway region, is in Moldova.
“[Putin] is sick and he is unstoppable,” said Danilova.
“Moldova used to be a part of the Soviet Union and we have a frozen conflict in the Transnistrian region,” added Danilova. “We have Russian troops.”
Mozaika, an LGBTQ rights group in Latvia, a Baltic country that borders Russia, on Sunday tweeted the country’s LGBTQ community is “together with Ukraine, both in thought and deed.” Mozaika through its online Diversity Shop is selling Ukraine-specific t-shirts and other clothes to raise money for the country’s LGBTQ rights groups.
A EuroPride fundraiser has raised more than €16,000 ($17846.32) for Kyiv Pride and Kharkiv Pride in Ukraine. OutRight Action International has raised more than $105,000 for LGBTQ Ukrainians through a fund it created after Russia launched its invasion of the country.
“Let’s give our community some sense of hope and help, by providing the funds they need to survive, and the resilience they need to thrive,” said OutRight Action International in its appeal.
Kampania Przeciw Homofobii (Campaign Against Homophobia), an LGBTQ rights group in Poland, which borders Ukraine, has also urged their members and supporters to help LGBTQ Ukrainians. Kampania Przciw Homofobii, like advocacy groups in Hungary and other European countries, have also participated in protests against the invasion.
“Don’t be passive: Act,” proclaimed Kampania Przciw Homofobii in a Feb. 24 tweet.
Situation for LGBTQ Ukrainians ‘is dire’
The invasion has sparked worldwide condemnation and sweeping sanctions against Russia, Putin and members of his inner circle.
Magomed Tushayev, a Chechen warlord who played a role in the anti-LGBTQ crackdown in his homeland, on Saturday died during a skirmish with the Ukrainian military’s elite Alpha Group outside of Kyiv, the country’s capital. A White House official late last week told the Blade the Biden administration has “engaged directly” with LGBTQ Ukrainians and other groups that Russia may target if it gains control of their country.
“We remain (in Ukraine) to defend ourselves and our country and will continue to help people,” wrote Olena Shevchenko, chair of Insight, a Ukrainian LGBTQ rights group, on Feb. 24 in a Blade op-ed. “Our activists from the LGBTQI+ communities are staying and keep working, providing support to the most marginalized ones. Honestly, I don’t know how long we will be able to resist, but we will do our best for sure.”
Anna Sharyhina co-founded the Sphere Women’s Association, which is based in Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city that is less than 30 miles from the Russian border in eastern Ukraine. Sphere Women’s Association, among other things, organizes Kharkiv Pride.
“The situation we, activists, human rights defenders, the LGBT+ community and the entire Ukraine, are in is dire,” wrote Sharyhina on Sunday in an email to supporters. “Several times a day, for hours and hours, we hear explosions of varying intensity and receive information about new shelling and attacks by Russian troops.”
“Even now, while I am composing this address, I hear shootings and explosions,” added Sharyhina. “It is extremely hard to work and make even simple decisions in such conditions. Many have left, others are seeking shelter locally.”
Sharyhina said the organization plans to begin to hold “daily online emergency meetings” and has begun to plan on how “to help people in the LGBT+ community because they are in a very vulnerable state.”
“We have come to a conclusion that funds may be needed for housing, food, relocation from dangerous areas, hygiene products, warm blankets, mats, and so on,” wrote Sharyhina, who asked supporters to make donations.
“With sincere faith in freedom, democracy and human rights in Ukraine,” ends the email.
Turkey
Activists protest outside Turkish Embassy in D.C.
Dozens detained during anti-LGBTQ ‘My Family Is Safe’ campaign raids
A group of activists on Friday gathered in front of the Turkish Embassy in D.C. to protest the country’s anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
The protest — which the Council for Global Equality, Amnesty International USA, Outright International, and Health GAP organized — took place less than a week after Turkish authorities detained dozens of people during raids that targeted the country’s LGBTQ community and advocacy groups and HIV/AIDS service organizations.
Authorities in Istanbul on Sept. 15 detained more than 150 people who gathered outside a courthouse to protest the raids that are part of the government’s “My Family Is Safe” campaign. Journalists are among those who were taken into custody.
“This crackdown is not making families safer,” said Amnesty International USA Executive Director Nadia Daar, speaking in front of the Turkish Embassy.
Council for Global Equality Managing Director Keifer Buckingham stressed that “homosexuality is not a crime in Turkey.” Health GAP Executive Director Asia Russell and Outright International Senior Director of Law, Policy, and Research Neela Ghoshal also spoke.
View on Threads
Activists in Madrid and in other cities around the world held similar protests on Friday.
Turkey
More than 150 people detained outside Istanbul courthouse
Protesters gathered after raids targeted Turkey’s LGBTQ community
Turkish authorities on Tuesday detained more than 150 people who gathered outside an Istanbul courthouse to protest raids that targeted the country’s LGBTQ community.
CNN reported the protesters had planned to speak with reporters outside the city’s Caglayan courthouse, but authorities prevented them from doing so.
Turkish authorities over the weekend detained dozens of people in Istanbul and in other cities during raids that were part of the government’s “My Family is Safe” campaign.
A statement from a group of Turkish advocacy groups the Washington Blade received on Tuesday notes “at least 112 people have been detained in connection with the operations.” The organizations said 43 of those taken into custody are “LGBTI+ rights defenders,” and “at least” 62 of those detained “have been arrested, while judicial proceedings remain ongoing in Istanbul.”
“Among those arrested, at least 16 are LGBTI+ activists or individuals connected to LGBTI+ associations, including founders and members of association bodies,” reads the statement. “Per press statements by the prosecutor’s offices, dissolution cases will also be launched against associations.”
“The majority of those arrested are trans women who are charged with prostitution-related offences,” it adds. “While authorities have framed the operations as part of investigations into alleged crimes such as obscenity, prostitution and child exploitation, human rights defenders and civil society organizations have raised serious concerns regarding the use of criminal law mechanisms and public morality narratives to target legitimate LGBTI+ rights activities. Civil society views the ‘My Family is Safe’ narrative as a smokescreen to distract the public from deep economic crises and actual domestic violence, weaponizing moral panic to scapegoat LGBTI+ rights defenders, who have long been targeted by the government.”
The raids have sparked outrage among LGBTQ activists in Europe and elsewhere around the world.
The Congressional Equality Caucus and U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.) are among those who have publicly condemned them in the U.S. The Council for Global Equality on Friday is scheduled to hold a rally in support of Turkey’s LGBTQ community in front of the Turkish Embassy in Northwest D.C.
Hungary
New Hungarian government to scrap anti-LGBTQ adoption law
Prime Minister Peter Maygar ousted Viktor Orbán in April
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Maygar has said his government will amend a law that essentially bans same-sex couples from adopting children.
Lawmakers approved the effective adoption ban in 2020, when then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government was in power. Maygar announced plans to amend the law on Saturday when he was speaking to supporters in Budapest, the Hungarian capital.
Orbán and his government faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown that also included laws banning Pride events.
Maygar in April ousted Orbán in Hungary’s elections.
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