1

00:00:09,876 --> 00:00:12,212

LGBTQ+ fight on the

the front line

 

2

00:00:12,212 --> 00:00:16,583

as much as

heterosexuals.

 

3

00:00:20,153 --> 00:00:22,856

It is impossible to tell you about the

 

4

00:00:22,856 --> 00:00:26,893

electronic music scene without mentioning

of the LGBT community.

 

5

00:00:26,926 --> 00:00:28,895

I have an appointment with Dimitri

and his friends.

 

6

00:00:28,895 --> 00:00:32,165

They organize LGBT techno

parties every month in Kyiv.

 

7

00:00:41,341 --> 00:00:44,444

And they're going to tell us about

the place of the gay community in Ukraine

 

8

00:00:44,711 --> 00:00:47,714

in this time of war.

 

9

00:00:51,985 --> 00:00:52,852

Hi Dimitri!

 

10

00:00:52,852 --> 00:00:54,020

Hi, Dimitri. Nice to meet you.

 

11

00:00:54,020 --> 00:00:54,854

Nice to meet you. Marc

 

12

00:00:54,854 --> 00:00:59,426

I'm Dimitri

and this is Alex and Vlad.

 

13

00:00:59,592 --> 00:01:03,496

And here we are

preparing

 

14

00:01:04,230 --> 00:01:06,633

a festival whose name

is Stechka, here in Ukraine.

 

15

00:01:06,633 --> 00:01:07,967

And you speak a little French?

 

16

00:01:08,334 --> 00:01:10,136

-Just a little.

Did you learn it at school?

 

17

00:01:10,136 --> 00:01:11,805

At university.

 

18

00:01:11,938 --> 00:01:14,841

Shall we continue in English?

-Yes, of course.

 

19

00:01:24,150 --> 00:01:25,618

Yes, we're in the process

of preparing

 

20

00:01:25,618 --> 00:01:27,087

our party which will take place

next Saturday.

 

21

00:01:30,790 --> 00:01:32,826

These celebrations began

after the war began.

 

22

00:01:32,826 --> 00:01:36,162

And these parties are

LGBTQ+

 

23

00:01:36,463 --> 00:01:40,500

where we collect money

for soldiers on the front line.

 

24

00:01:40,533 --> 00:01:45,438

And these celebrations began June

following the start of the war

 

25

00:01:45,738 --> 00:01:48,108

at a time when social life

 was at a standstill.

 

26

00:01:48,108 --> 00:01:51,277

We started

a group of gay guys

 

27

00:01:51,277 --> 00:01:54,180

and we didn't do any promotion

for these parties,

 

28

00:01:54,180 --> 00:01:57,250

there was no public communication

on the networks-

 

29

00:01:57,250 --> 00:02:00,720

so we gathered our friends,

who called their friends

 

30

00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:02,856

and they called their friends

and now

 

31

00:02:02,856 --> 00:02:04,724

there are over 1000 of us

at each party.

 

32

00:02:21,374 --> 00:02:24,310

It's a place where you can

express who you are,

 

33

00:02:24,911 --> 00:02:28,681

a place where you can feel confident

 

34

00:02:29,182 --> 00:02:32,719

where you can relax and

not suffer

 

35

00:02:32,719 --> 00:02:36,055

any judgment or anything.

 

36

00:02:36,055 --> 00:02:38,057

Just be yourself,

 

37

00:02:39,159 --> 00:02:40,360

relax,

 

38

00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,596

be yourself and be surrounded by people

who are like you -

 

39

00:02:44,764 --> 00:02:49,702

who understand the social

pressure we're under.

 

40

00:02:57,110 --> 00:03:00,380

You live with this feeling of pressure.

 

41

00:03:00,380 --> 00:03:02,949

I've been feeling it for

30 years, you know?

 

42

00:03:02,949 --> 00:03:05,318

And then finally, you go to that place

where you feel safe

 

43

00:03:05,318 --> 00:03:08,021

surrounded by people who feel

the same emotion

 

44

00:03:08,721 --> 00:03:10,256

and you have this...

 

45

00:03:12,692 --> 00:03:15,495

And you see, that vibe

is incredible.

 

46

00:03:15,495 --> 00:03:18,831

And what you feel is that

 

47

00:03:19,566 --> 00:03:24,003

you see the people next to you

and you think: I know how you feel, man.

 

48

00:03:24,971 --> 00:03:26,072

That's it!

 

49

00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:28,808

It just goes to show what

this community

 

50

00:03:28,808 --> 00:03:30,476

is.

 

51

00:03:31,077 --> 00:03:35,348

And how we help each other and

have these common values

 

52

00:03:35,348 --> 00:03:37,817

and a common goal:

dancing for freedom

 

53

00:03:37,817 --> 00:03:41,020

and raise money for the soldiers

fighting on the front.

 

54

00:03:45,358 --> 00:03:49,128

Society rejects us and people say

we should all be sent to the front.

 

55

00:03:49,963 --> 00:03:55,134

But they're wrong. We're already there

and there are plenty of us.

 

56

00:03:56,035 --> 00:03:56,970

And we're equal.

 

57

00:03:57,804 --> 00:03:59,839

No worse, no better.

 

58

00:04:06,813 --> 00:04:09,949

How has the situation

of homosexuals been different

 

59

00:04:09,949 --> 00:04:13,386

before and after the war?

 

60

00:04:14,187 --> 00:04:16,189

Okay, before the war,

our situation

 

61

00:04:16,189 --> 00:04:19,325

was comparable to what

we can see

 

62

00:04:19,325 --> 00:04:21,861

in all Slavic countries.

 

63

00:04:21,861 --> 00:04:23,563

But when the war started

 

64

00:04:23,563 --> 00:04:27,000

the target of hatred

changed

 

65

00:04:27,367 --> 00:04:32,372

towards a greater enemy,

not within but without.

 

66

00:04:32,639 --> 00:04:35,642

And that concerns the whole of society,

doesn't it?

 

67

00:04:35,842 --> 00:04:45,451

As for the LGBTQ community, there too,

fear also came from this greatest enemy.

 

68

00:04:45,551 --> 00:04:48,821

That's why there's

less fear of being yourself

 

69

00:04:49,088 --> 00:04:52,058

to express yourself

 

70

00:04:52,625 --> 00:04:55,962

and impose your identity

people around you.

 

71

00:04:57,130 --> 00:04:59,532

In just a few years

 

72

00:04:59,532 --> 00:05:04,537

I think we've really come a

long way in terms of diversity,

 

73

00:05:04,537 --> 00:05:08,808

recognition and visibility of the

LGBTQ community.

 

74

00:05:09,075 --> 00:05:10,877

And all that...

 

75

00:05:12,745 --> 00:05:16,349

It all happened so fast

we didn't even see it coming.

 

76

00:05:17,884 --> 00:05:19,919

Just liberated from the U.S.S.R.

 

77

00:05:19,919 --> 00:05:23,389

Ukraine legalized homosexuality

in 1991,

 

78

00:05:23,790 --> 00:05:27,527

but in a society that is still very rural

and conservative, ruled by an

 

79

00:05:27,527 --> 00:05:31,964

by an orthodox religion openly hostile

to homosexual identity,

 

80

00:05:32,398 --> 00:05:35,401

Being gay in Ukraine

has long been very difficult.

 

81

00:05:44,577 --> 00:05:47,880

Violent attacks by far-right

extremist groups

 

82

00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:51,718

against the Gay Pride

organized in the capital,

 

83

00:05:51,984 --> 00:05:54,987

showed the evolution of mentalities

on this subject is still challenged.

 

84

00:06:00,126 --> 00:06:03,429

You can see this quest the LGBT situation

 

85

00:06:03,596 --> 00:06:05,231

in Kyiv.

 

86

00:06:05,231 --> 00:06:08,901

That we need so much protection.

That we need so many policemen

 

87

00:06:08,901 --> 00:06:12,004

to be able to demonstrate for our rights.

 

88

00:06:21,681 --> 00:06:24,117

My belief is that this is wrong,

 

89

00:06:24,117 --> 00:06:25,818

it's a sin

 

90

00:06:25,818 --> 00:06:29,622

and we can say that it can destroy

the moral side of our country.

 

91

00:06:32,091 --> 00:06:33,159

In 2019,

 

92

00:06:33,159 --> 00:06:36,362

LGBT rights organizations

LGBT rights in Ukraine

 

93

00:06:36,362 --> 00:06:41,033

reported 140 incidents of homophobic

homophobic incidents, ranging from

 

94

00:06:41,033 --> 00:06:42,635

to serious physical assaults.

 

95

00:06:48,441 --> 00:06:50,076

Before the war,

 

96

00:06:50,576 --> 00:06:55,815

there were extreme right-wing groups

that were more numerous and stronger

 

97

00:06:57,884 --> 00:06:59,218

And on the opposite side

 

98

00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,056

the gay community,

the LGBTQ+ community

 

99

00:07:04,056 --> 00:07:07,160

was more isolated from the rest

of society,

 

100

00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:08,661

people were in

their bubble.

 

101

00:07:08,861 --> 00:07:10,496

I'm really

happy

 

102

00:07:10,496 --> 00:07:14,500

the way things have turned out...

even if it is war.

 

103

00:07:15,601 --> 00:07:16,969

The LGBT community

 

104

00:07:16,969 --> 00:07:19,906

is heavily involved

in the war effort against Russia.

 

105

00:07:20,039 --> 00:07:24,577

The LGBT Military Union was founded

in 2018 by Viktor Pylypenko,

 

106

00:07:24,911 --> 00:07:29,515

a gay veteran of a volunteer battalion

of volunteers deployed in the Donbass.

 

107

00:07:29,749 --> 00:07:33,419

This LGBT union is committed

to equal rights rights in society

 

108

00:07:33,419 --> 00:07:37,557

and supports gay soldiers

fighting on the front line.

 

109

00:07:37,857 --> 00:07:39,425

This is the association that receives

 

110

00:07:39,425 --> 00:07:43,496

proceeds from Strichka evenings organized

by Dimitri, Alex and Vlad.

 

111

00:07:51,270 --> 00:07:55,308

People need to know that

LGBTQ

 

112

00:07:55,308 --> 00:07:58,878

people fight on the front line

 

113

00:07:58,878 --> 00:08:00,680

as much as heterosexuals.

 

114

00:08:04,550 --> 00:08:07,186

Because in this society,

 

115

00:08:07,186 --> 00:08:11,123

there was always this kind of

thoughts: where are the homosexuals?116

 

116

00:08:11,858 --> 00:08:14,293

Why aren't they on the front line?

 

117

00:08:14,293 --> 00:08:19,398

And now people see that they're

are fighting on the same level

 

118

00:08:19,398 --> 00:08:23,236

and on the same lines

as heterosexuals.

 

119

00:08:23,736 --> 00:08:26,739

Now the Ukrainians

 

120

00:08:27,206 --> 00:08:30,776

understand what the

values

 

121

00:08:31,077 --> 00:08:33,679

they want to move towards

go to

 

122

00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:38,583

to build the society they

they really want.

 

123

00:08:38,583 --> 00:08:41,820

And it's definitely towards democracy,

 

124

00:08:41,854 --> 00:08:44,824

towards democratic values,

towards independence, towards freedom.

 

125

00:08:45,024 --> 00:08:50,763

And this is the diametrically opposed path

of our neighbors.

 

126

00:08:50,763 --> 00:08:54,433

And that's why I think

that it's a crucial thing

 

127

00:08:55,501 --> 00:08:59,405

 that has influenced society's

attitude towards the LGBTQ+ community

 

128

00:09:00,072 --> 00:09:01,007

because people started

to say

 

129

00:09:03,042 --> 00:09:07,914

okay, we don't want

Ukraine

 

130

00:09:08,047 --> 00:09:12,351

to have the same behavior and values

as in Russia.

 

131

00:09:12,351 --> 00:09:15,721

What we really want is the opposite.

 

132

00:09:15,721 --> 00:09:17,690

Yes, it's to make a difference.

 

133

00:09:20,226 --> 00:09:23,896

When you think of war and the

dramatic impact it has it has on a society,

 

134

00:09:24,230 --> 00:09:27,266

we don't necessarily imagine

that it can be used as a springboard

 

135

00:09:27,300 --> 00:09:28,935

for new ideas.

 

136

00:09:28,935 --> 00:09:31,671

Yet history

has shown us otherwise.

 

137

00:09:31,671 --> 00:09:35,074

Women's rights, for example, have

progressed enormously in Europe

 

138

00:09:35,074 --> 00:09:38,144

during the two world wars,

when they were able to participate

 

139

00:09:38,144 --> 00:09:40,079

society,

 

140

00:09:40,079 --> 00:09:43,449

work, while the men were sent to the

men were sent to the front.

 

141

00:09:43,749 --> 00:09:47,954

It was this upheaval, brought about

by the war, which led to the evolution

 

142

00:09:47,954 --> 00:09:51,591

of gender roles and laid the foundations

of the women's rights movement.

 

143

00:09:51,924 --> 00:09:55,795

War can become an opportunity

for change, for social evolution,

 

144

00:09:56,128 --> 00:09:59,365

it's also often

a gas pedal for art and culture.

 

145

00:10:01,834 --> 00:10:03,269

Just now you were telling me that

 

146

00:10:03,269 --> 00:10:07,073

you had started collecting

from the beginning of the war.

 

147

00:10:07,139 --> 00:10:07,673

Yeah!

 

148

00:10:07,673 --> 00:10:11,310

It gives a different perspective on what's

what's going on.

 

149

00:10:11,310 --> 00:10:13,179

And with art,

 

150

00:10:13,179 --> 00:10:18,451

you can look

a problem with different eyes.

 

151

00:10:19,118 --> 00:10:22,421

Yes, and it's true that when the war

started, we could have said to ourselves

 

152

00:10:22,421 --> 00:10:25,625

that art would be the last thing

you'd want to buy?

 

153

00:10:26,058 --> 00:10:29,895

And what the artists did

is that they started offering their work

 

154

00:10:30,229 --> 00:10:31,931

as donations.

 

155

00:10:31,931 --> 00:10:36,402

Basically, you buy my work

and I give the money for those who fight.

 

156

00:10:36,402 --> 00:10:38,070

They had to adapt to the new situation.

 

157

00:10:38,070 --> 00:10:40,806

And painters began to be

inspired

 

158

00:10:40,806 --> 00:10:46,512

by the war and what was going on.

 

159

00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:50,650

And all this made

 

160

00:10:50,650 --> 00:10:54,954

Ukrainian art,

contemporary art.

 

161

00:10:54,954 --> 00:10:57,390

And I think it's great.

 

162

00:10:57,890 --> 00:11:00,292

Can you show me the works

you've bought?

 

163

00:11:00,292 --> 00:11:03,295

We can start with

this photograph.

 

164

00:11:03,529 --> 00:11:07,833

This is a photo I bought

at the beginning of the war

 

165

00:11:07,833 --> 00:11:12,271

in an auction organized to

raise money for the military.

 

166

00:11:12,571 --> 00:11:17,843

This is a mosaic wall in Marioupol,

 

167

00:11:18,944 --> 00:11:22,481

In a bus station.

 

168

00:11:22,481 --> 00:11:25,184

This photo was taken before the war

 

169

00:11:25,184 --> 00:11:29,121

and this place no longer exists

because the city

 

170

00:11:29,188 --> 00:11:32,491

has been completely destroyed.

 

171

00:11:33,826 --> 00:11:36,929

This other work is called

The Fighters

 

172

00:11:37,229 --> 00:11:40,232

and was created by

Maria Plyatsko.

 

173

00:11:40,399 --> 00:11:43,836

This is a very interesting technique

because it's printed with stone.

 

174

00:11:43,969 --> 00:11:48,274

The stone is hollowed out and

used for printing.

 

175

00:11:48,274 --> 00:11:49,975

in three parts.

 

176

00:11:50,076 --> 00:11:54,413

And this is a work by my friend

Katia Zavhorodnia

 

177

00:11:54,747 --> 00:11:59,051

and it's also a very interesting technique

 because it's drawn point by point,

 

178

00:11:59,385 --> 00:12:03,222

which means you have to do

each stitch by hand

 

179

00:12:03,222 --> 00:12:07,626

which is very long and meditative

 

180

00:12:07,626 --> 00:12:11,030

and it takes a very long time

 

181

00:12:11,530 --> 00:12:14,166

to make this drawing.

 

182

00:12:14,166 --> 00:12:17,369

And it conveys a sense of peace

 

183

00:12:17,369 --> 00:12:21,674

because to finish this job

you have to put these points very precisely

 

184

00:12:22,007 --> 00:12:25,511

and to do that you have to be at peace,

very calm,

 

185

00:12:25,511 --> 00:12:29,448

and that's what I love about this work.