Projects
Welcome x BBQ. Munich Kyiv Queer celebrates 10 years of twin cityship
For ten years now we try to improve the Human Rights’ situation of LGBTIQ* people in Ukraine based on the twin cityship between Kyiv and Munich. Six months ago we had to re-invent ourselves as a helping organisation.
This is the time to say: Thank you for your support!
We would like to invite you as hosts, guests from Ukraine, friends, supporters and members of Munich’s LGBTIQ* community. It is on: Saturday, September 24th, 4 to 10 pm, in the garden of Munich’s Versöhnungskirche, Hugo-Wolf-Straße 18. Please rsvp at info@MunichKyivqueer.org
The evening’s programme is outstandingly beautiful: We proudly present the big voices of Nikita Volkov, Viriena and Irina Song. On the turntables: DJane Nastya Zasobina. We also have the honour to offer a drag show by Merritt Ocracy.
Happy to have you
Bring your own meat/salad/desserts, drinks are free. We’d appreciate to have a nice mixture of Bavarian and Ukrainian dishes. You may add the dish you bring in this list so we are able to plan a bit. We’re really looking forward to seeing you!
Stand with Ukraine! Slava Ukraini!
When: Saturday, 24th of September, 4 to 10 pm
Where: Versöhnungskirche, Hugo-Wolf-Straße 18, Munich
Admission: free drinks, bring your own food
Contact: info@MunichKyivQueer.org
Organized by: Munich Kyiv Queer, Munich Queer Homes
Don’t miss our PRIDE EVENTS
We offer a variety of events on the Pride weekend of July 15/16. It’s a celebration of life while in Ukraine r*ssia tries to destroy the way we love, everything we live for. Let’s sing and dance, let’s discuss and commemorate. Let’s march! Stand with Ukraine!
Friday, 15th of July
We will host the Love Wins – Charity Party for LGBTIQ* in Ukraine in the Lesbian-queer Community Centre LeZ on Friday, 15th of July. We start with a discussion at 17.00 on the panel facing the questions: “Queer friends in Ukraine, how are you? How can we help? And what are the perspectives for LGBTIQ* after the war?”
Celebration of diversity
Guests on the panel are: Olena Hanich, Gay Alliance Ukraine, Zhenia Kvasnevska, Queer Home Odesa, OdesaPride, Polina, trans* person from Kyiv, now Munich.
Before and after will sing Olha Rubtsova, Nikita Volkov, Iris Song and Viriena. Behind the turntables: DJane Nastya Zasobina, Odesa, now Munich. At 22.00 we will offer a Drag Performance by Merritt Ocracy.
Saturday, 16th of July
PRIDEPARADE
Guests and refugees from Ukraine are officially heading the PrideParade of CSD München. Please join us with your Ukrainian and Rainbow flags. We all will walk behind the official Pride banner of this year: LESS ME, MORE WE. Gather around 11.00 at Mariahilfplatz.
INFODESK
From 15.00 to 18.00 – so after the March – Munich Kyiv Queer runs an information stand at Marienplatz/Rosenstraße. Here we will distribute flyers, postcards, stickers and inform about our work.
KULTURBÜHNE (Small Stage), Kaufingerstraße/Augustinerstraße
17:15 TALK Ukraine + Munich’s partnership with Kyiv
What is the current situation of Ukrainian LGBTIQ*, how do they live in Germany and what can we do to improve their situation here as well as in their home country? With: Alex Belopolsky (Munich Kyiv Queer), Nikita Volkov (Odesa, now Munich), Lydia Dietrich (“mother” of Munich Kyiv Queer), Bernd Müller (moderation)
17:40 MUSIC Ukrainian-Turkish band Squareplatz
Sezgin Inceel (Turkey) and Stas Mishchenko (Ukraine) live in Munich and form a binational indie-electro duo. Their sound: a queer homage to the pop sound of the 90s! WATCH
SHOWBÜHNE (Big Stage), Marienplatz
17.40 MUSIC Nikita Volkov
The openly gay pop, rock and opera singer from Odesa came to Munich as a refugee. The artist will present a selection of his favourite songs that have accompanied him in life.
18.40 COMMEMORATION of the War Victims
Joint commemoration for the victims of r*ssia’s war against Ukraine. Curated by KyivPride and Munich Kyiv Queer.
Thank you, community!
Your willingness to donate is breaking all records: The German LGBTIQ*-community has collected more than 500,000 euros for queer people in need!
First results are just: Wow!
Protecting LGBTIQ*s in and from Ukraine is what we as an alliance set out to do when we started our work two months ago. And we are thrilled about the results so far.
But, or course, we have to keep on, because we need to help many more people who are currently suffering from the war.
Keep on donating!
We need your support until as many people as possible are safe. You know that queer people have their own needs for help due to stigmatisation, discrimination and violence. Now it’s time: Keep on donating!
You too can help with a donation!
Dreams of tough guys. How Putin’s war in Ukraine reactivates militarised masculinity!
Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February, which violated international law, not only marks a serious break in Russian-Western relations, Putin’s war also reactivates the old image of men as soldiers. Putin is waging a war that he cannot call war. Under false claim, Putin is recruiting young men as soldiers for his “special operation”.
In Ukraine, men between 18 and 60 are called to arms for national defence and are not allowed to leave the country. A critical look at the discourse on Putin’s war shows: Public opinion is no longer unanimous that a man has not to defend his fatherland with a gun like a hero.
We talk about the current situation in Ukraine, images of masculinity in the Russian political culture, their role in the stability of Putin’s regime and the evident relapse into militarised masculinity.
Markus Theunert (CH) is 49 years old and lives in Zurich. He studied psychology and sociology at the universities of Basel and Bern. He is programme manager at MenCare Switzerland and overall manager at männer.ch. In his work he builds bridges between feminism, gender studies, men’s work and men’s emancipation.
On behalf of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, he has developed the strategy for the inclusion of boys and men in gender equality policy. He recently published the essay “They’re dreaming of tough guys again”.
Alex Belopolsky is 36 years old and was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Belopolsky has been living and working in Germany as a freelance journalist and media expert since 2013.
Belopolsky has written for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Tagesspiegel, among others, and deals with the topics of culture, identity and gender. Since 2020, Belopolsky has been a member of the initiative group Munich Kyiv Queer and is committed to the rights of Ukrainian LGBTIQ*.
Dr. des. Simon Primus is 35 years old, a political scientist and a staff member at the Geschwister-Scholl Institute for Political Science at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. His research focuses, among other things, on the stability of dictatorships and democracies, as well as conditions and obstacles for regime change.
He is also a board member of the association Commit e.V. Munich, where he has helped to plan and implement numerous global political education projects in recent years.
Stefan-Maria Mittendorf is 53 years old, an art historian, curator of contemporary art and has been the temporary exhibition director at the Pasinger Fabrik since 1st of February 2022.
In 2018, Mittendorf curated the exhibition “Ukraine: Learning from a good neighbour” and in 2019 “We are there, where we were going. A reserve look into tomorrow of Eastern Partnership Countries: Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia”. Both exhibitions were created in cooperation with the Consulate General of Ukraine in Munich.
A benefit event by Pasinger Fabrik in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation / Bavaria and Munich Kyiv Queer.
When: Wednesday, 20 April, 8 pm
Where: Pasinger Fabrik, Kleine Bühne, August-Exter-Straße 1, Munich
Admission: free, donations welcome
Contact: www.pasinger-fabrik.de
Organized by: Pasinger Fabrik, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung / Bavaria, Munich Kyiv Queer
Charity Bar Evening
It’s supposed to be a regular evening at the Sub. With beer and bubbles, a chat at the bar and nice music. Let’s have fun, but it’s not that easy these days.
The war in Ukraine, unleashed by Putin’s army, claims thousands of dead and injured, millions leave the bombed cities. And especially queer people are in need.
Many stay and fight, yes, others help. But quite a few are suffering, having no income any more or lost their homes. Fleeing is often the last option. As a vulnerable group, LGBTIQ* have always been under stress – even more so in a military conflict that brings so much threat.
The gay community centre Sub is therefore organising a benefit evening on Sunday, 10th of April, from 7pm (photo: Bethel Fath, graphics: Frank Zuber) and collecting money for queer people in and from Ukraine. We say thank you!
Let’s talk!
Members of Munich Kyiv Queer and guests from Ukraine take over the bar. This has become a tradition, as the photo above shows. Kostya was one of the LGBTIQ* activists from Ukraine who participated in our first workshop on volunteering in the community in 2014. Long time ago.
Let’s talk: We have a lot to tell you about.
When: Sunday, 10th of April, 7 pm
Where: Gay community centre Sub, Müllerstraße 14, 80469 Munich
Organised by: Sub, Munich Kyiv Queer
War in Ukraine – LGBTIQ in danger?
A fortnight ago, a war broke out in Europe that no one would have thought possible. On 24th of February, the Putin regime in Russia attacked Ukraine, millions of people are fleeing, thousands are dying.
Among the victims of this war are also many lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, inter* and queer people, who are considered a particularly vulnerable group.
Even though social acceptance has increased in recent years, Ukraine is a conservative country. Reservations towards minorities are big. Time and again, fanatical homophobes hunt down LGBTIQ*, their organisations and representatives.
The attack from a country like Russia, whose government has been restricting the rights of homosexuals and trans* people for years, bringts new dangers. Many fear persecution, deportation, torture and death – as they once did in Chechnya – and therefore flee.
Chased from Odesa
We talk to Olha Rubtsova, an LGBTIQ* activist from Odesa who fled the army’s attacks via Bulgaria to Munich a few days ago, and Conrad Breyer, member of the Munich Kyiv Queer contact group, which maintains an intensive partnership between the twin cities of Munich and Kyiv in the field of LGBTIQ* rights. Moderation: Dr. Meike Zwingenberger, managing director of the Foundation Bayerisches Amerikahaus.
Olha Rubtsova is a dentist from Odesa. The 36-year-old has gained some notoriety for founding Ukraine’s first queer choir. In 2014, Qwerty Queer formed under her leadership and has become a role model for other LGBTIQ* choirs in the country.
Conrad Breyer has been involved in Munich’s LGBTIQ* community for years. He is a press officer for the gay-queer centre Sub and MunichPride. In 2012, he and others set up Munich Kyiv Queer which campaigns for the rights of sexual minorities in Ukraine. The 49-year-old’s main job is as an editor and journalist.
When: Wednesday, 9th of March, 7 p.m.
Where: Amerikahaus, Karolinenplatz 3, Munich
Organised by: Amerikahaus, Munich Kyiv Queer
LGBTIQ* in Ukraine – How we can help now!
Ukraine is fighting for its existence. On 24th of February, Putin’s regime attacked: Millions of people are fleeing, thousands are dying. Among the victims of this war are also many lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, inter* and queer people, who are considered a particularly vulnerable group.
Ukraine, although a conservative country at its core, has made enormous progress in recent years in terms of social acceptance of sexual minorities, even if legal equality is still a long way off.
The attack from Russia, whose government has been restricting the rights of homosexuals and trans* persons for years, is now calling all this into question. Many fear a hunt for LGBTIQ* people, as the world experienced in Chechnya in 2017. The rumour of “lists” with Human Rights activists on it is doing the rounds.
Act now!
Munich’s community, which has maintained an intensive partnership with its friends in the twin city of Kyiv for already ten years now, is helping. We offer support, collect donations, help refugees, look for accommodation and help with integration in Germany.
We talk about the situation with Olha Rubtsova, an LGBTIQ* activist from Odesa who fled the bombs via Bulgaria to Munich a few days ago, and Stefan Block, a member of Munich Kyiv Queer. Moderation: Stefan-Maria Mittendorf.
Stefan Block, 38, has been involved in Munich’s LGBTIQ* community for years; first with the youth organisation Diversity, then with Munich Kyiv Queer. In 2014, he joined the group that campaigns for the rights of sexual minorities in Ukraine. He works as a civil servant for Bavaria.
Olha Rubtsova is a dentist from Odesa. The 36-year-old gained some notoriety by founding the first queer choir in Ukraine. In 2014, Qwerty Queer formed under her leadership and has become a role model for other LGBTIQ* choirs in the country; she has even launched a queer choir festival for Ukraine. Olha Rubtsova is also active in the queer theatre scene. Her last premiere, planned for 27th of February, could not happen because of the war. Over 100 people wanted to come.
Stefan-Maria Mittendorf is 52 years old, an art historian and curator of contemporary art, and has been acting exhibition director at the Pasinger Fabrik since 1st of February 2022. Mittendorf curated the exhibition “Ukraine: Learning from a good neighbour” in 2018 and in 2019 “We are there, where we were going. A reserve look into tomorrow of Eastern Partnership Countries: Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia”. Both exhibitions were created in cooperation with the Consulate General of Ukraine in Munich.
A benefit event by Pasinger Fabrik in cooperation with Munich Kyiv Queer.
When: Tuesday, 8 March, 8 pm
Where: Pasinger Fabrik, August-Exter-Str.1, 81245 Munich; small stage.
Organized by: Pasinger Fabrik, Munich Kyiv Queer
Admission: free! Donations are welcome!
EMU Three Cities Choral Meet-Up
by Stephanie Hügler
After all the fun we had last winter singing and rehearsing songs in three different languages, we would like to see you all again – physically or online – to sing and learn some festive Christmas songs.
Our international rehearsal will take place on Sunday, 28th of November, from 3 pm to 6 pm (Edinburgh), 4 pm to 7 pm (Munich) and 5 pm to 8 pm (Ukraine), including some breaks. It will be a hybrid session with some people singing together physically in a rehearsal room and others taking part via Zoom.
Please save the date! We will get back to you with more information and a link to the musical sheets for preparation, soon.
Register now!
We are very happy that our musical directors – Kathleen Cronie from Loud & Proud, Mary Ellen Kitchens from Regenbogenchor München and Olga Rubtsova from Qwerty Queer in Odesa – are again organising the musical part of this event. Also, we welcome Stefan Block to our team.
Please sign up for the project, so we know how many people will take part and we can buy the appropriate number of licences for the sheet music. This is the link: https://forms.gle/fscGLJDf4QRz6DDc6
Any questions or feedback? Contact us at choir@MunichKyivQueer.org.
We’re looking forward to singing with you!
When: 28th of November 2021, 3 to 6 pm (Edinburgh)
Registration: https://forms.gle/fscGLJDf4QRz6DDc6
Contact: choir@MunichKyivQueer.org
Organized by: Proud & Loud, Regenbogen Chor München, Qwerty Queer, Munich Kyiv Queer, CSD München, Cultural Department of the City of Munich
Concert: Merry Christmas!
by Monaccord
After last year’s corona-induced silence, we are now looking forward to a colourful, yet festive musical event: on the Saturday before the first Advent, Monaccord, the umbrella organisation of Munich’s seven queer choirs and orchestras, invites us to a Christmas Concert in the Church of St. Lukas in Munich’s Lehel district.
Instead of selling tickets, we will collect donations for the Queer Home in Kyiv.
More than 120 singers and musicians set a sign for diversity and acceptance (Graphics: Frank Zuber).
Oh, what a joy!
The seven queer ensembles of Monaccord are: Groove Sistaz Women Bigband, Lilamunde Lesbenvokal, Melodiva Lesbenchor, Philhomoniker – Gay Choir Munich, Rainbow Sound Orchestra – Munich, Regenbogenchor München and the Queerilla Singers.
Looking forward to an Advent under the Rainbow!
When: 27th of November 2021, 4 pm
Where: St. Lukas, Mariannenplatz
Contact: conrad@MunichKyivQueer.org
Organised by: Monaccord
Film Screening: Different from the Others
Many thousands of homosexual men in Germany were sentenced to prison terms of up to five years under Paragraph 175 of the Penal Code. Enacted in 1871, with the creation of the modern German nation, this law against “unnatural vice between men” was toughened in the Nazi era and later liberalized in East and West Germany, but not fully repealed until 1994.
The third sex
The law was challenged as early as 1897 by the German homosexual emancipation movement, the first such initiative worldwide. Its leader, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935), held that homosexuals constituted a biological “third sex,” a social minority unjustly subjected to discrimination.
Hirschfeld argued that Paragraph 175 did far less to prevent the victimless crime of homosexuality than to promote the crime of extortion. For each homosexual prosecuted under the law, another 100 were victimized by blackmailers.
During and after World War I, when the German film censorship board was disbanded, director Richard Oswald (1880-1963) began collaborating with several doctors specializing in sexuality, Dr. Hirschfeld among them, to produce a series of educational films. Through a narrative story following the lives of people affected by issues such as sexually transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancy or other areas, these films frankly broached topics were not spoken of and tried to offer realistic guidance free from the mores of the day’s society.
A sympathetic, openly gay character
Early in 1919, Oswald and Hirschfeld began work on a film called Anders als die Andern, or in English, Different from the Others. It exposes the consequences of discrimination by giving the abstract concept of homosexuality a real face: a gay violinist named Paul Körner.
Although not Oswald’s first film to have a gay element (he had, for example, two years prior shot a screen version of The Picture of Dorian Gray), Different from the Others was the first—for the director and for all of cinema—to focus on an entirely sympathetic, openly gay character and to call for tolerance and equality in gay rights. In 1920, after public outcry for moral decency in films, with Different from the Others leading as a prime example, censorship was resumed in Germany.
The film was banned and most prints of it destroyed. Dr. Hirschfeld retained what was probably the last intact copy in his personal archive. In 1927, he used a re-edited short version from it as the episode Schuldlos geächtet! Tragödie eines Homesexuellen (Innocently Outlawed! Tragedy of a Homosexual) in a documentary called Gesetze der Liebe (Laws of Love), which likewise met banning in Germany.
Hirschfeld’s mission
When the Nazis came to power, Hirschfeld was forced into exile and his archive was burned. After its destruction, the film was lost entirely for over forty years until a fragment of Hirschfeld’s documentary was discovered in Ukraine, containing the nearly complete short version of Different from the Others. Using this footage, as well as production stills and publicity photos and contemporary documents, the film could be reconstructed by Filmmuseum München.
We proudly present the oeuvre d’art to the audience of KyivPride. The film and event will be translated from German to Ukrainian.
When: 17th September 2021, 6 p.m.
Where: KyivPride, register here
Contakt: conrad@MunichKyivQueer.org
Organized by: KyivPride, MunichPride, Munich Kyiv Queer, Cultural Department of the City of Munich