News

Munich-Ukrainian Picnic Talk

We enter the 2nd year of war and luckily activists from Ukraine will join MunichPride once again. They are all fighting: for their country, their lives, for freedom, visibility and acceptance of LGBTIQ*, of course.

We want to talk and learn from each other, from our struggles and our history. How are queer people in Ukraine right now? What’s our business in Munich?

Meet people from Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Munich. Bring your food to the picnic talk of Munich Kyiv Queer and LesbenSalon. We have invited (in alphabetical order):

• Lenny Emson, KyivPride
• Zhenia Kvasnevska, OdesaPride, Queer Home Odesa
• Anna Leonova and Olena Hanich, Gay Alliance Ukraine, Kyiv (photo)
• Anna Sharyhina, Sphere, Kharkiv

When: Friday, 23rd of June 2023, 6 p.m.
Where: LeZ, Müllerstraße 26
Organized by: Munich Kyiv Queer, LesbenSalon, LeZ

This is how you can help

INDIVIDUAL HELP Munich Kyiv Queer has its own fundraising campaign via www.paypal.me/ConradBreyer to support people in Ukraine who need help and are not organised in the local LGBTIQ*-groups. We can help fast, directly and unbureaucratically.

HELP FOR LGBTIQ* ORGANISATIONS To support LGBTIQ* in Ukraine we have helped set up the Alliance Queer Emergency Aid Ukraine, in which around 40 German LGBTIQ* Human Rights organisations are involved. All these groups have access to very different Human Rights organisations in Ukraine and use funds for urgently needed care or evacuation of queer people. Every donation helps and is used 100 percent to benefit queer people in Ukraine. Donate here

Questions? www.MunichKyivQueer.org/donations

“I’ll stay with you till the end”

Emin is originally from Azerbaijan. Years ago he came to Ukraine for work. After a difficult coming out, he found the love of his life here, Vlad. And he has met people who accept him for who he is. Emin would never flee the country – although he could. A portrait by Evgen Lesnoy.

Anyone who believes that only Ukrainians live in Ukraine is mistaken. Contrary to what the Russian propaganda would have us believe, there is no forced Ukrainisation going on in this country. Even in the second year of the full scale war, many people in the Eastern and Southern parts of the nation still speak Russian as a matter of fact.

There are many people living in Ukraine who came here for work. They were born in countries of the former Soviet Union. And although many of them are not Ukrainian citizens, Ukraine is their homeland. Despite the war, many of them have stayed, like Emin.

All his relatives know him as Emin. He is 42 years old and a citizen of Azerbaijan. However, Emin has been living in Ukraine for over 15 years now, in Kyiv, to be precise. He stays in the outskirts of the capital.

Emin came out as a gay man in Ukraine. Before that, in his old home country, also in Moscow, where he lived a long time ago, he tried again and again to suppress his homosexuality. But you can’t live against your nature.

Vald and Emin got to know each other in a hair salon

In Ukraine, Emin found the love of his life. He met Vladik when he came to cut his hair in Emin’s salon. Emin is a hairdresser, although he used to be a cook once.

His experience in the kitchen came in handy during the first months of the war. But more on that in a moment.

They were all waiting for the war. No one wanted to believe that it was really coming, but they were all waiting for it. Emin and Vlad, like many others, had packed their bags; they were standing in the hallway.

But neither Vlad nor Emin made use of them. From the very first day, when the Russian tanks rolled towards Kyiv, only 15 kilometres away, the gay couple decided: This is our home. This is where we want to be.

Emin suddenly started baking pita bread, as he had learned from his mother

In those days, the house where they live organised its own territorial defence. They didn’t have weapons, of course, but it was important to keep out looters and saboteurs. Vlad communicated constantly with various foreign media, as he is fluent in Arabic, Hebrew and English, reporting what was going on in Kyiv: That the Ukrainian capital was standing solid and did not let in the enemy.

Emin took a shovel and fortified the complex with his neighbours. And when the shops around closed, he started baking bread. Volunteers brought flour and they started working the dough and made pita bread, like Emin’s mother used to in Azerbaijan.

Back in February 2022, when the Russian troops were outside Kyiv’s walls, they often asked Emin: Why don’t you leave? You’re not a Ukrainian citizen and you’re not liable for military service. Why do you stay here?

Emin had only one answer for this: “Vladik lives here, he is my love, my husband. How can I leave him? How can I leave you? After all, you have taken us all in. I have not heard a single homophobic word about us. I am not a Ukrainian citizen, but I am Ukrainian. A Ukrainian from Azerbaijan. I will stay with you until the end.”

In Ukraine, Emin has found a new family that he does not want to leave

More than a year has passed now and the war has moved away from Kyiv. In the summer, Emin took time to go home and visited his mother in Azerbaijan. And of course, he came back. Because, here in Ukraine, Emin has everything he needs to live: a home and people who accept him as he is.

This is how you can help

INDIVIDUAL HELP Munich Kyiv Queer has its own fundraising campaign via www.paypal.me/ConradBreyer to support people in Ukraine who need help and are not organised in the local LGBTIQ*-groups. We can help fast, directly and unbureaucratically.

HELP FOR LGBTIQ* ORGANISATIONS To support LGBTIQ* in Ukraine we have helped set up the Alliance Queer Emergency Aid Ukraine, in which around 40 German LGBTIQ* Human Rights organisations are involved. All these groups have access to very different Human Rights organisations in Ukraine and use funds for urgently needed care or evacuation of queer people. Every donation helps and is used 100 percent to benefit queer people in Ukraine. Donate here

Questions? www.MunichKyivQueer.org/donations

Munich Kyiv Extravaganza

In the spirit of the long-standing city partnership between Munich and Kyiv, drag artists from Ukraine and Germany have once again joined forces with Munich Kyiv Queer. They perform and raise money for the important work Munich Kyiv Queer conducts for queer war victims. Welcome to an entertaining cabaret evening on 10 June.

Charming guests, great show: Munich based Drag Queen VICKY VOYAGE (b.d.) leads the way through the international cabaret world. Because Vicky is always worth a trip. She guides her audience through the evening with charisma and clever wit. You can expect a colourful potpourri of Ukrainian and German drag art.

Before things get started on stage, we present our guests here in fast forward:

She is the enfant terrible of the German burlesque scene. When RUBY TUESDAY gets on stage, it’s getting hot. Ruby has been performing throughout Europe as a neo-burlesque performer for over ten years. This art form not only allows the performers to play with femininity and sensuality in a self-determined, creative and humorous way, but also to question social norms and blur boundaries.

Her versatility allows Ruby to slip into many roles: she plays the fluffy bunny just as convincingly as “Ruben Tuesday” bursting with masculinity – Ruby was Munich’s first drag king.

“All people in this world deserve to be free to choose who they love and be who they are.”

Samantha Jackson

Ukrainian’s Drag Ambassador SAMANTHA JACKSON from Odesa has a big stage presence, a big heart and an even bigger voice. Everything about her is big. Especially the longing for her old homeland, which she had to leave because of the war. With her songs, she reminds us of Ukraine.

Her cause: A life in freedom! Samantha says: “All people in this world deserve to be free to choose who they love and be who they are.”

Drag phenomenon HOLEY FATHER spreads blasphemous fun wherever it can. With a mix of pop culture and social criticism, Holey makes people laugh, cry, but also think.

AGNETA LINCHEVSKAYA from Berlin is an icon of intellectual eroticism and the biggest rule breaker of burlesque. She stubbornly refuses to work according to the laws of this genre and likes to assert herself. She is suspected of being a double agent working undercover as a cabaret performer – ultra sexy, aristocratic, intelligent and extremely dangerous! Extremely suspicious, isn’t it? Join “Munich Kyiv Extravaganza” to find out the truth.

LIUDMYLA KURALIESOVA currently lives in Switzerland. The singer from Odesa feels confident in every musical genre, from rock to opera. Her performances are steeped in Ukrainian culture. In every song you can feel the endless expanse of the Ukrainian steppe, the warm breeze of the Black Sea and the majesty of the Ukrainian Carpathians.

Liudmyla’s art combines the irrepressible power of an independent woman with her sensitive lyrical nature. In her work, Liudmyla draws the attention of the world community to the war in Ukraine. She believes in equal rights for all people.

„Gender is a construct, build your own.“

Merritt Ocracy

MERRITT OCRACY is Munich’s Ukrainian Drag Quing. A faerie harlequin, a vintage prince of the mischievous abyss, a crossover chameleon that flies through space and time and has landed on stage from somewhere out there. Merritt says: “Gender is a construct, build your own.”

Munich Kyiv Extravaganza (Flyer: Stanislav Mishchenko) is a charity evening for queer war victims. The artists all waive their fees; the entrance fee will be donated to Ukrainian LGBTIQ* who are in need or on the run. At the entrance, Munich Kyiv Queer will be waiting at the info desk to answer all your questions.

When: Saturday, 10 June 2023, 8 p.m.; Admission from 6.30 p.m.
Where: Wirtshaus zum Isartal, Brudermühlstraße 2
Tickets: 29 euros plus booking fees, PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
Organized by: Munich Kyiv Queer

This is how you can help

INDIVIDUAL HELP Munich Kyiv Queer has its own fundraising campaign via www.paypal.me/ConradBreyer to support people in Ukraine who need help and are not organised in the local LGBTIQ*-groups. We can help fast, directly and unbureaucratically.

HELP FOR LGBTIQ* ORGANISATIONS To support LGBTIQ* in Ukraine we have helped set up the Alliance Queer Emergency Aid Ukraine, in which around 40 German LGBTIQ* Human Rights organisations are involved. All these groups have access to very different Human Rights organisations in Ukraine and use funds for urgently needed care or evacuation of queer people. Every donation helps and is used 100 percent to benefit queer people in Ukraine. Donate here

Questions? www.MunichKyivQueer.org/donations

“I was scared for my life”

Hanna realised very early on that she is actually asexual. Since then, the 29-year-old has completely reoriented her life for herself. However, the war brings back the traumatic experiences she had before. Our columnist Iryna Hanenkova met Hanna.

The story of my life begins in Kharkiv. It is the city of my strength, the city of my dreams, my alma mater. It taught me how to live and survive, how to love and fight. Today my whole country is at war.

My own “war” began when I realised that I was different, asexual. Nevertheless, I tried to prove to everyone that I was “like everyone else” so as not to stand out. This had consequences.

When I had the strength, I ended a relationship that was forced on me and felt better, physically of course and psychologically. At that time, I began to deal intensively with myself.

I was about 16 or 17 years old when I realised that I was not interested in sex, but mainly in relationships with people. I decided to read articles about it and learned about people who feel romantic but not physical attraction. Since then, I have been interested in the issues of gender and sex, in the “norms” and the “exceptions” that society has set for us.

I finally got to know myself, built boundaries and relationships that were comfortable for me and my loved ones. I explored the world and opened up to it as much as possible after all the violence I had experienced.

I built a wall around myself

During the war, my condition deteriorated. As my psychotherapist explained to me, my brain reacts painfully to any form of aggression and violence, both direct and indirect (e.g. in news). As a result, I became more sensitive to the stimuli around me. And my boundaries, which I had built up over the years to protect myself, soon resembled a stone wall. I was rigid and unfriendly.

I was stressed about losing my job, scared for my life …

This was compounded by harassment in the street, which eventually silenced me. The come-ons from men deepened my aversion to myself, my body and everything that had to do with sexuality in any way.

My life as an asexual and the confrontation with it have been going on since my childhood. When I analyse myself back then, I notice episodes that point to this. Today, I believe that it is normal to be asexual, to prefer not only physical pleasures, but also emotional, intellectual ones etc. That has always been the norm for me.

Over the years, I have experienced situations where my boundaries have been violated. And I don’t think I’m the only one. It’s important to talk about it so that it doesn’t just remain a traumatic memory, but is woven into our lives and makes us stronger.

The rustling of leaves calms me

Now, in the middle of the war, things that appeal to senses help to ground me: smells, touches, tastes, visual impressions. This can be reading by candlelight, for example. Or the sunrise outside, when the soft rustling of leaves or the chirping of small birds can be heard.

And of course I believe in the victory of our country and that each and every one of us is important, wherever and however we are.

This is how you can help

INDIVIDUAL HELP Munich Kyiv Queer has its own fundraising campaign via www.paypal.me/ConradBreyer to support people in Ukraine who need help and are not organised in the local LGBTIQ*-groups. We can help fast, directly and unbureaucratically.

HELP FOR LGBTIQ* ORGANISATIONS To support LGBTIQ* in Ukraine we have helped set up the Alliance Queer Emergency Aid Ukraine, in which around 40 German LGBTIQ* Human Rights organisations are involved. All these groups have access to very different Human Rights organisations in Ukraine and use funds for urgently needed care or evacuation of queer people. Every donation helps and is used 100 percent to benefit queer people in Ukraine. Donate here

Questions? www.MunichKyivQueer.org/donations

“Fear paralysed me”

Stas left his home town of Kramatorsk because of the war. His life has not improved since then: He escaped with his brother, who rejects him because Stas is gay. In Butcha he met a homophobic jerk from his school days. His boyfriend fled to Poland and Stas has lost his job, too. Now he wonders how this will all end. Our correspondent Iryna Hanenkova spoke with Stas.

My name is Stas. I come from Kramatorsk. Back in 2014, I lived under Russian occupation for several months. So when Russia started its full-scale war against Ukraine on 24th of February 2022, I was already prepared for what was coming.

My friend, now ex-boyfriend, lived in Butcha at the beginning of the war. You know the town from the news. Since I didn’t want to imagine what he went through there, I haven’t asked him until today what happened. He doesn’t really want to talk about it; I understand him well.

But one thing has stayed in my memory from what he told me: When he came out of the bunker to look for food, he lost his appetite because it stank of burnt corpses everywhere.

In April 2022, my brother, his family and I decided to leave Kramatorsk. Thank God there were technical problems with the ATMs at that time, so long queues formed in front of them. I queued for a long time, too, to get money and we were late to the station. That day, a rocket hit the train and killed 30 civilians, over hundreds were injured. I was just lucky.

Accusations, fights, humiliations

My brother and I don’t get along well. He is not happy that I am gay. After we fled to Dnipro, a month of humiliation began. I lived in a separate room, which I hardly left, and did not communicate with him and his wife because we always started arguing right away. I decided to move out because I felt persecuted. I imagined I could hear them whispering about me even though they were not even at home.

I went to Butcha to stay with my boyfriend. Here we lived with a classmate and her family and – Anton. Anton is a friend of my friend’s husband, and Anton is, of all people, the guy who used to follow me around after school with his friends, beating me up and taunting me.

The first weeks were really hard: again I was reminded of who I was. The fear from my childhood paralysed me, shut me down. But with time we found an amicable coexistence, although he remained unbearable.

A friend barely survived

With the onset of winter, everything became even more difficult: I lost my job because of the constant power cuts. I urgently needed warm clothes, because I had not packed anything suitable in my suitcase in the panic before. My boyfriend fled to Poland. From now on, I had to get along with Anton all by myself.

Just the other day, the Russian military bombed my home town of Kramatorsk again, destroying residential buildings. A friend has miraculously survived after a missile hit her house. I don’t know what will happen next, how I can go on living, what will happen tomorrow and how this story will end. As long as this war continues…

This is how you can help

INDIVIDUAL HELP Munich Kyiv Queer has its own fundraising campaign via www.paypal.me/ConradBreyer to support people in Ukraine who need help and are not organised in the local LGBTIQ*-groups. We can help fast, directly and unbureaucratically.

HELP FOR LGBTIQ* ORGANISATIONS To support LGBTIQ* in Ukraine we have helped set up the Alliance Queer Emergency Aid Ukraine, in which around 40 German LGBTIQ* Human Rights organisations are involved. All these groups have access to very different Human Rights organisations in Ukraine and use funds for urgently needed care or evacuation of queer people. Every donation helps and is used 100 percent to benefit queer people in Ukraine. Donate here

Questions? www.MunichKyivQueer.org/donations

Fancy some karaoke?

Do you like to sing? Would you like to meet people from Ukraine, get to know them and perhaps make new friends ? In this case, we can offer you a perfect evening programme.

Join our karaoke competition on Tuesday, 11th of April, from 7 pm, at the Lesbian-queer centre LeZ. Germans and Ukrainians will meet to sing against each other.

This evening organized by our dear friend Oleksandra Semenova from the NGO “You are not alone” and Stephanie Hügler is all about proving your own show talent, competing with others and having fun. Cool awards await the winners.

Singing together brings new friends

With our mentoring programme we want to bring Ukrainian and German queers together; they will get to know each other better.

On the long run, we hope this will lead to stable mentor-mentee relationships between people from Ukraine and Germany (one-to-one mentoring). However, there is no obligation to take on a mentorship during this evening!

When: Tuesday, 11th of April, 7 p.m.
Where: LeZ, Müllerstraße 26, Munich
Please register: mentoring@munichkyivqueer.org (Marco and Steffi)
Organized by: Munich Kyiv Queer, LeZ

This is how you can help

INDIVIDUAL HELP Munich Kyiv Queer has its own fundraising campaign via www.paypal.me/ConradBreyer to support people in Ukraine who need help and are not organised in the local LGBTIQ*-groups. We can help fast, directly and unbureaucratically.

HELP FOR LGBTIQ* ORGANISATIONS To support LGBTIQ* in Ukraine we have helped set up the Alliance Queer Emergency Aid Ukraine, in which around 40 German LGBTIQ* Human Rights organisations are involved. All these groups have access to very different Human Rights organisations in Ukraine and use funds for urgently needed care or evacuation of queer people. Every donation helps and is used 100 percent to benefit queer people in Ukraine. Donate here

Questions? www.MunichKyivQueer.org/donations

Antonina’s struggle for recognition

In Ukraine, many trans* people are fighting in the army. They are pushing back the aggressor who threatens their lives. But they are also campaigning for LGBTIQ* visibility and acceptance – like Antonina. This story was written due to the Transgender Day of Visibility by our correspondent Evgen Lesnoy.

They have been a couple for nine years now. They have also been working together in the territorial defence of the Ukrainian military for months. Antonina is a non-binary person and uses the pronoun “she”.

Before, Antonina (then still Anton) met Sasha. When, years later, she became aware of her identity, this did not frighten Sasha. He just had to get used to addressing his beloved partner in the female form.

Until the invasion, they both worked for the theatre. Together they developed conceptual pieces, performances. On the very third day after the Russian troops began invading Ukraine, they joined the Kyiv territorial defence unit. Antonina says there were not many choices: Sitting home shivering and hiding from the Russian missiles? Not for them.

Before 24th of February 2022, the start of the full-scale war, they could hardly have imagined ever picking up a weapon. They were often ridiculed by their neighbours and their environment for their open “non-traditional” love.

When they joined the territorial defence unit, they decided not to hide their gender identity and sexual orientation. Antonina’s dream came true: Her name ANTONINA was accepted. Her documents still say Anton, but she is convinced that this is only a matter of time.

First, they were stationed in Kyiv and trained the whole time. They learned how to handle weapons, dig trenches and hide from Russian drones. Then they were transferred to the Southern front. Antonina was trained on the grenade launcher.

The whole LGBTIQ* community supports the couple. They collected money for their uniforms, armoured waistcoats and other war essentials.

Antonina is very happy to be now on the southern front because she comes from Crimea. She had to leave her home after it was annexed by Russia in 2014. She dreams of returning to her beloved Crimea with the Ukrainian flag. Her great wish is that the Equality March can soon take place on the coast of the peninsula.

Both fear though that their beloved partner might be wounded or die. In that case, according to the law, the surviving party would not be entitled to any state aid, because so far there is no legal provision for them in Ukraine. So Antonina and Sasha expect a law on same-sex marriages to be passed in Ukraine soon. There are indeed two drafts discussed in the Ukrainian Parliament.

This is how you can help

INDIVIDUAL HELP Munich Kyiv Queer has its own fundraising campaign via www.paypal.me/ConradBreyer to support people in Ukraine who need help and are not organised in the local LGBTIQ*-groups. We can help fast, directly and unbureaucratically.

HELP FOR LGBTIQ* ORGANISATIONS To support LGBTIQ* in Ukraine we have helped set up the Alliance Queer Emergency Aid Ukraine, in which around 40 German LGBTIQ* Human Rights organisations are involved. All these groups have access to very different Human Rights organisations in Ukraine and use funds for urgently needed care or evacuation of queer people. Every donation helps and is used 100 percent to benefit queer people in Ukraine. Donate here

Questions? www.MunichKyivQueer.org/donations

“I am not a traitor”

Les left Ukraine shortly after the war began. First, they were ashamed, many people from their country criticized the decision. Today Les understands that not everyone is able to fight. Les contributes from abroad. Our columnist Iryna Hanenkova spoke with them. Here’s Les’ story.

I am Les (they/it/their), 20 years old. I am a non-binary, polyamorous, sexually free person from Kharkiv.

More than a year has passed since Russia invaded Ukraine. I went abroad a few weeks after the war started. And you can’t imagine how many people called me a traitor. They accused me of having abandoned my family, of looking only after myself. For enjoying life in Europe. P.S. This is no fun. You have to fucking work, work and work again.

Almost nothing has changed, except that here are no explosions.

The war has affected everyone

My war experience is limited to two weeks living in a basement. No, I have never seen a Russian soldier in person. Am I lucky?

Probably not, because the war has affected everyone in some way. Are my experiences, yours or anyone else’s more important than others? I do not think so.

I have decided to help Ukraine my way, using my resources. I donate when I have left some money, I take part in volunteer campaigns, I explain, give answers, I support my country where I can. Not all people are fighters and that’s totally okay.

It’s like flying: First I use the mask myself, then I’ll help children next to me. Because if I lose myself, who will make its small “contribution” to the long-awaited “peace”?

This is how you can help

INDIVIDUAL HELP Munich Kyiv Queer has its own fundraising campaign via www.paypal.me/ConradBreyer to support people in Ukraine who need help and are not organised in the local LGBTIQ*-groups. We can help fast, directly and unbureaucratically.

HELP FOR LGBTIQ* ORGANISATIONS To support LGBTIQ* in Ukraine we have helped set up the Alliance Queer Emergency Aid Ukraine, in which around 40 German LGBTIQ* Human Rights organisations are involved. All these groups have access to very different Human Rights organisations in Ukraine and use funds for urgently needed care or evacuation of queer people. Every donation helps and is used 100 percent to benefit queer people in Ukraine. Donate here

Questions? www.MunichKyivQueer.org/donations

« Tell them about it! » A travelogue from Ukraine

Due to high demand we offer another lecture with Sibylle! On her charity trip through Ukraine, Sibylle von Tiedemann visited our friends and LGBTIQ* organisations in Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv and she was received with open arms. Sibylle has already talked about her trip at the lesbian community centre LeZ. On Wednesday, 29 March, at 7.30 pm, she now invites you to the gay community centre SUB, Müllerstraße 14. Join in!

At first it was just a vague idea, but it soon took shape. And then, end of November, Sibylle started her journey to Ukraine.

She went because she wanted to be there. With her friends, in the country she loves, in the city of Kyiv, which she had grown so fond of over the years.

Sibylle also wanted to collect donations for Munich Kyiv Queer and the “Bridge for Kyiv”, an association that supports people in need, especially children and large families who have not much of an income.

Donors can win wine, coffee and toilet paper from Ukraine

In the end, she stayed for over a month. At the gay-queer centre SUB, Müllerstraße 14, she will give a new lecture on her journey on Wednesday, 29 March, starting at 7.30 pm. Her first event in February was well attended; not all those interested were able to participate. That is why she is going to show photos and videos and talk about her experiences again. The evening will be moderated by Conrad Breyer, spokesperson for Munich Kyiv Queer.

Among donors – the goal was to collect 18,000 euros, nearly 14,000 we got so far – we will raffle off souvenirs from Ukraine, such as craft wine from Odesa, toilet paper with Putin’s portrait and coffee with the popular slogan of a Ukrainian soldier who refused to surrender with his troops on Snake Island. He said: “Russian warship, f… you!”

Sibylle has been to Ukraine many times in recent years. Munich Kyiv Queer exists since 2012 and Sibylle co-founded the group. For several years she also was a spokesperson. We campaign for the Human Rights of LGBTIQ* people in Munich’s twin city Kyiv and beyond. Sibylle has often accompanied the group during their activities, for example at KyivPride.

But Sibylle is a PhD Slavicist and historian, too. As a research assistant for the NS Documentation Centre in Munich, she interviewed former Ostarbeiter who were deported to Munich for forced labour during the Nazi era.

In 2018, she co-edited the memorial book for Munich victims of the National Socialist “euthanasia” murders. It was a milestone in her work about this forgotten group of victims.

Sibylle prepared her trip very acurateley. She talked to experts and friends who really appreciated her travel plans. She was warmly welcomed by people in Ukraine. Sibylle reported on her personal observations in a well-received blog, which can be read here.

The stories she wrote are touching. Queer people suffer particularly as a vulnerable group in the war. But the blog also tells of courage, creative protest and a spirit of optimism in a country terrorised by Putin’s troops.

She sees her travelogue as a mission

She says: “I couldn’t bear to watch the misery from afar, to send a little heart via Facebook here, to post a #StandWithUkraine there, to transfer money.”

In Kharkiv, a young Ukrainian woman showed her houses where people had lived until recently. They were totally destroyed. “Tell them about this in Germany,” she begged her. Sibylle understands this as a mission.

When: Wednesday, 29th of March, 7.30 p.m.
Where: SUB, Müllerstraße 14, Munich
Contact: info@MunichKyivQueer.org
Organized by: Munich Kyiv Queer, SUB, CSD München, Cultural Department of the City of Munich

This is how you can help

INDIVIDUAL HELP Munich Kyiv Queer has its own fundraising campaign via www.paypal.me/ConradBreyer to support people in Ukraine who need help and are not organised in the local LGBTIQ*-groups. We can help fast, directly and unbureaucratically.

HELP FOR LGBTIQ* ORGANISATIONS To support LGBTIQ* in Ukraine we have helped set up the Alliance Queer Emergency Aid Ukraine, in which around 40 German LGBTIQ* Human Rights organisations are involved. All these groups have access to very different Human Rights organisations in Ukraine and use funds for urgently needed care or evacuation of queer people. Every donation helps and is used 100 percent to benefit queer people in Ukraine. Donate here

Questions? www.MunichKyivQueer.org/donations

HOUSING FOR QUEER REFUGEES FROM UKRAINE LGBTIQ* often have seen discrimination in their lifes, therefore queer refugees are particularly vulnerable. Many are traumatised and now they experience re-traumatisation on the run. We want to offer them a home where they feel comfortable and can live without fear. Depending on availability, we rent two-, three-, four- or five-room flats and sublet them to people in need as shared flats. Our association does not have any funding yet, so we depend on donations. For example, we have to advance rent and deposits until the State’s job centres step in.

Donate here:
Münchner Bank eG
IBAN DE16 7019 0000 0003 1425 66
Munich Queer Homes e.V.

He got off the stage, stripped off his high heels and went to fight

Ivan Gonzyk is a diva, basically a gay man. And sometimes he likes to live his feminine side as a pole dancer. Now he fights in the army. Our author Evgen Lesnoy interviewed Ivan on his YouTube channel. This text is based on their conversation.

Ivan was born in the Kherson region, the part where the Russian occupiers are currently wreaking havoc. His parents stayed. Ivan himself has been living in Kyiv for some time now.

Pole Dance on High Heels

Our protagonist is a trained paramedic. He has already served in the army in 2015, took part in combats in the occupied Donbas.

Ivan is actually a creative person: He loves dancing and show business. The trained make-up artist has worked with many Ukrainian stars that we don’t know in Western Europe. He has danced in nightclubs himself. A man pole dancing on high heels – what could be more beautiful? But for the moment, he had to say goodbye to this world for a while.

When the full-scale war broke out in February 2022, it seemed to Ivan that his country needed his services as a medic more urgently than a pole dancer. He packed, joined the army and decided: No more secrets!

His openness mobilises help

Nothing from his life should be hidden from anyone any more, not even from his comrades! All the extravagant photos and videos on Instagram were now publicly accessible. In a way, this was even helpful.

All his followers who noticed that Ivan was going into battle saw it on Instagram and started to help.

Ivan organises support for soldiers and the people who still live in the towns near the front. He is no longer a glamorous diva but a soldier that helps: He got his company a car, a washing machine and a microwave. We don’t need to talk about medicine. Of course, this was necessary, too.

Standing in Bakhmut’s battles

But Ivan’s main task now is to save lives. At least three times a week he drives to Bakhmut to pick up wounded fighters.

Ivan also wages an information war against homo- and transphobia. Although he is not directly confronted with it in his company, he still has to explain a lot. The archaic understanding of family and love, especially among people with a soviet and post-soviet education, is a big problem.

Ivan says that one of the reasons he came out is because he wants Ukraine to become a real European country where human rights count. He now says openly that he is gay and that he was in the war, so that after the victory no one can say: You LGBTIQ* people were not at the front….

Russia’s public enemy: the gay man

On Russian television, they mock of him in prime time almost every week. How is it possible, they ask, that such a person dares to defend the country?

Ivan also has a dream. He would like to live in two countries: Ukraine on the one, and the Czech Republic or Spain on the other hand. He hasn’t decided yet. First, Ukraine has to win the war.

This is how you can help

INDIVIDUAL HELP Munich Kyiv Queer has its own fundraising campaign via www.paypal.me/ConradBreyer to support people in Ukraine who need help and are not organised in the local LGBTIQ*-groups. We can help fast, directly and unbureaucratically.

HELP FOR LGBTIQ* ORGANISATIONS To support LGBTIQ* in Ukraine we have helped set up the Alliance Queer Emergency Aid Ukraine, in which around 40 German LGBTIQ* Human Rights organisations are involved. All these groups have access to very different Human Rights organisations in Ukraine and use funds for urgently needed care or evacuation of queer people. Every donation helps and is used 100 percent to benefit queer people in Ukraine. Donate here

Questions? www.MunichKyivQueer.org/donations

HOUSING FOR QUEER REFUGEES FROM UKRAINE LGBTIQ* often have seen discrimination in their lifes, therefore queer refugees are particularly vulnerable. Many are traumatised and now they experience re-traumatisation on the run. We want to offer them a home where they feel comfortable and can live without fear. Depending on availability, we rent two-, three-, four- or five-room flats and sublet them to people in need as shared flats. Our association does not have any funding yet, so we depend on donations. For example, we have to advance rent and deposits until the State’s job centres step in.

Donate here:
Münchner Bank eG
IBAN DE16 7019 0000 0003 1425 66
Munich Queer Homes e.V.