Local
Chaos, daily bombings: Gay man on plight of family trapped in Kyiv
Serge Duka fled Ukraine with now husband in 2013
A gay man from Ukraine who lives in D.C. with his husband says his mother-in-law remains hunkered down in her apartment in the country’s capital.
“She tells herself that everything’s fine,” Serge Duka told the Washington Blade on March 1 during a telephone interview. “That’s her way of coping with the whole situation.”
Duka, who lives in Chevy Chase, first spoke with the Blade a week after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.
He said he and his husband wanted his mother-in-law to leave Kyiv before the war, but “a friend of a friend” convinced her to stay. Duka repeatedly stressed he didn’t think Russian President Vladimir Putin would follow through with his threat to invade Ukraine.
“She is not in particularly good health,” said Duka on March 1, again referring to his mother-in-law. “She’s almost 70 years old and we don’t want her out there. We don’t want her to leave her apartment.”
Duka on Wednesday told the Blade in a second telephone interview that his mother-in-law with whom he and his husband speak every day remains in her Kyiv apartment.
Duka said there are “buildings that are destroyed” in the area of Kyiv where his mother-in-law lives, but her building “still stands.” Duka also told the Blade that it would prove difficult for his mother-in-law to evacuate Kyiv because the situation at the city’s train station is chaotic.
“She won’t be able to wrestle her way in,” said Duka.
Duka lived in Kyiv for seven years before he and his husband moved to the U.S. at the end of 2013 and asked for asylum because of the anti-gay persecution they suffered in Ukraine. Duka is from Rivne, a city in western Ukraine that is near the country’s borders with Belarus and Poland.
Duka on March 1 said his parents go to a makeshift bomb shelter that “they basically created less than a week ago in the basement of their apartment building” several times a day.
“No one expected that,” he said. “The expectation was the war would be in the entire east side (of Ukraine) and not the west side. They go there at least three to four times a day on a daily basis because of the air raids from Belarus.”
Duka on Wednesday told the Blade his parents’ situation has not changed.
“My parents are relatively safe,” he said.
“They run to the shelter down the street four times a day,” added Duka. “It’s not getting any worse. It’s not getting any better. They’re tired, angry.”
The invasion continues to spark 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, died during a skirmish with the Ukrainian military’s elite Alpha Group outside of Kyiv.
Media reports indicate Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill on Sunday categorized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a struggle to protect two separatist regions in the eastern part of the country from “gay parades.” Russian authorities on March 5 announced they had detained Brittney Griner, a member of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport after she allegedly had hashish oil in her luggage.
A White House official previously 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. Insight and other organizations inside Ukraine continue to raise money to support LGBTQ Ukrainians in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities under Russian attack. LGBTQ advocacy groups in neighboring countries and around the world have also backed these efforts.
Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision in 2013 to reject an agreement that would have brought his country closer to the European Union sparked a protest movement that culminated with violent clashes in Kyiv’s Maidan square. Yanukovych, who was allied with Putin, resigned and fled to Russia.
“Back then Russia created a huge campaign against the European Union and one of the main talking points was the point that they called Europe Sodom,” Duka told the Blade on March 1. “The Ukrainian people were targeted with all these stories about how there was 58 genders in Europe and children will be forced to change genders … they will give your children to gay people and all sorts of crap.”
Duka also said he thinks Russia funded neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine that targeted gay people. He noted to the Blade that his now husband was an LGBTQ activist and “was targeted heavily on the internet.”
“That’s one of the reasons why we left,” said Duka.
Duka said he and his husband continue to watch the news for updates on the war.
“When I sleep, he watches the news,” he said. “When he sleeps I watch the news and we are talking to our parents and relatives.”
Duka said he and his husband also feel helpless.
“There’s basically nothing much I can do,” he said.
Duka said the U.S. government has done “everything” it can do outside of sending troops to Ukraine, which he does not support.
“If they actually start the Third World War, it will be in Ukraine,” he said.
“If Russia started to fire nuclear weapons, they’ll be dead,” added Duka, referring to his family.
This week, President Biden announced a ban on Russian oil and natural gas as part of a crippling sanctions regime now joined by many businesses, including Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. A Polish plan to deploy jet fighters to Ukraine via an air base in Germany was rejected by the United States as too risky. Amid the intense bombing of Kyiv, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has appeared defiant and even broadcast a live message from his presidential offices this week. A 40-mile Russian convoy outside the capital remains stalled amid reports of problems with fuel and mechanical breakdowns. For the latest news on the Russian invasion, please visit our website.
District of Columbia
Anti-LGBTQ violence prevention efforts highlighted at D.C. community fair
Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs organized May 8 event
Detailed advice on how LGBTQ people can avoid, defend themselves against, and prevent themselves and loved ones from becoming victims of violence, with a focus on domestic and intimate partner violence, was presented at a May 8 LGBTQIA+ Safety in Numbers Community Fair.
The event, organized by the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, included five workshop sessions and information tables set up by 14 LGBTQ-supportive organizations and D.C. government agencies or agency divisions, including the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s LGBT Liaison Unit and the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center.
Also playing a lead role in organizing the event was the D.C. LGBTQIA+ Violence Prevention and Response Team, or VPART, a coalition of D.C. officials and leaders of community-based organizations that work with the Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
The event was held in meeting space in the building where the Office of LGBTQ Affairs is located at 899 N. Capitol St., N.E.
The workshop topics included de-escalation training on healthy relationships, bystander intervention, self-defense training, violence prevention grants, and suicide prevention.
“This will be a public safety and violence prevention event where community partners will educate attendees on various methods of violence intervention and trauma-informed practices,” according to a statement released by the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs prior to the start of the event.
The statement adds, “We will have live demos, interactive games, and workshops focused on strategies for self-defense, protecting vulnerable communities, increasing access to mental health resources, providing tools for recognizing domestic violence/intimate partner violence signs in intimate relationships, and assistance for substance abuse.”
Sonya Joseph, associate director of engagement for the Office of LGBTQ Affairs, told the Washington Blade that studies have shown rates of domestic or intimate partner violence are higher in the LGBTQ community than in the community at large.
“Domestic violence and intimate partner violence are two very big prevalent issues in the LGBTQ community,” she said, adding that some of the workshops at the event would be providing “training on healthy relationships and how to recognize and prevent intimate partner violence and the signs of it.”
About 35 to 40 people attended the workshop sessions.
Experts specializing in violence impacting the LGBTQ community have said domestic violence refers to violence among people in domestic relationships that can include spouses but also siblings, parents, cousins, and other relatives. Intimate partner violence, according to the experts, refers to violence perpetuated by a partner in a romantic or dating relationship.
These D.C. based organizations or agencies that participated in the LGBTQIA+ Safety in Numbers event, and which can be contacted for assistance, include:
• Defend Yourself
• DC LGBTQ+ Community Center
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
• Joseph’s House
• Us Helping Us, People into Living, Inc.
• MCSR (formerly known as Men Can Stop Rape)
• MPD LGBT Liaison Unit
• Volunteer Legal Advocates
• DC SAFE
• Destination Tomorrow
• D.C. Office of Victims Services and Justice Grants
• Life Enhancement Services
• ONYX Therapy Group
• U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C.
Rehoboth Beach
Celebrated performer Rose Levine plays Rehoboth on May 15
Freddie’s to host Fire Island legend
Rose Levine is a celebrated entertainer best known for her longstanding performances in Cherry Grove, Fire Island, since 1955 where she has become a beloved fixture of the community’s vibrant arts and nightlife scene. With a career spanning decades, Levine has captivated audiences with her cabaret singing shows full of charisma, classic numbers, humor, and unmistakable stage presence—proving that some stars don’t fade, they simply get better lighting.
Levine is also closely associated with the legendary Fire Island Invasion of the Pines, the annual Fourth of July spectacle in which performers and revelers make their grand (and gloriously over-the-top) entrance by boat from Cherry Grove to Fire Island Pines, now a 50-year tradition. Her role in launching and sustaining this tradition has helped make it one of the most iconic—and entertaining—events of the summer season.
A consummate storyteller, Levine brings audiences along for a glittering ride through entertainment history. Rose will sing her Broadway melodies by Jerry Herman, Irving Berlin, Cy Coleman, Cole Porter, and others. With music direction by Mark Hartman the one-night-only event will celebrate Levine’s legendary life in drag, featuring signature crowd-pleasers and celebrity stories. A friend of Broadway composer Jerry Herman, she shares delicious stories of legends like Ethel Merman and recalls a young Barbra Streisand before she became Barbra Streisand while both performing at the famed singing contests at Greenwich Village’s famed Lion nightclub before her big break at the Bon Soir. Her shows are a mix of music, mischief, and memories of old New York and Fire Island — back when Cherry Grove didn’t even have electricity, but somehow still had better nightlife than most cities today.
Her legendary Fire Island home, Roseland, has hosted its fair share of unforgettable gatherings (and likely a few stories that can’t be printed in a family newspaper), making it a cornerstone of the community’s social scene. Levine splits her time between Manhattan and her summer perch on Fire Island—though audiences across the country are grateful she travels.
In fact, she performs at The Green Room and 54 Below in Manhattan, Cherry Grove in Fire Island, Act 2 and The Palm in Puerto Vallarta, Red Dot Cabaret in Hudson, N.Y., and now Freddie’s in Rehoboth Beach—because retirement, frankly, sounds boring. Her place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest continuously performing drag queen in the world only adds to the legend and gives her bragging rights she fully intends to use.
And now, Rehoboth—consider yourself warned.
Don’t miss Rose Levine live on May 15 at Freddie’s Beach Bar. Dinner begins at 6:30 p.m., with the show at 7 p.m. Come for the cocktails, stay for the stories, and leave wondering how one person can have that many fabulous decades.
Levine’s legacy is defined not only by her remarkable career, but by her ability to connect with audiences across generations—usually while making them laugh, gasp, and occasionally blush. Don’t miss this show.
Arts & Entertainment
Washington Blade’s Pride on the Pier returns June 13 to kick off D.C. Pride week
Pride on the Pier officially launches Pride Week in D.C.
The Washington Blade’s annual Pride on the Pier celebration returns to The Wharf on Saturday, June 13, 2026 from 4-9 p.m., bringing thousands of LGBTQ community members and allies together for an unforgettable waterfront celebration to kick off Pride week in Washington, D.C.
Now in its eighth year, Washington Blade Pride on the Pier extends the city’s annual celebration of LGBTQ visibility to the bustling Wharf waterfront with an exciting array of activities and entertainment for all ages. The District Pier will offer DJs, dancing, drag, and other entertainment. Alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase for those 21 and older.
“Pride on the Pier has become one of the signature moments of Pride in D.C.,” said Lynne Brown, publisher of the Washington Blade. “There’s nothing like watching our community come together on the waterfront with live music and incredible energy as we kick off Pride week.”
Pride on the Pier is free and open to the public, with VIP tickets available for exclusive pier access to the Dockmaster Building. To purchase VIP tickets visit www.prideonthepierdc.com/vip.
Additional entertainment announcements, sponsor activations, and event details will be released in the coming weeks.
Event Details:
📍 Location: District Pier at The Wharf (101 District Sq SW, Washington, DC)
📅 Dates: Friday, 13, 2026
⏱️ 4-9PM
🎟️ VIP Tickets: www.PrideOnThePierDC.com/VIP
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