Thousands of individuals took to the streets of Warsaw on Saturday in a joint march for peace uniting Ukraine’s KyivPride with Poland’s Warsaw Pride. The modern cooperative occasion between the 2 Eastern European capitals referred to as for an finish to conflict and solidarity with LGBTQ Ukrainians.
“It was wonderful and beautiful, a very exciting presence,” Lenny Emson, KyivPride govt director, advised NBC News simply after the march.
Organizers had predicted some 120,000 members in all, and Emson stated the Ukrainian contingent alone greater than doubled its anticipated 200 marchers.
“Over 500 Ukrainians marched with our group,” he reported.
This yr marks the tenth anniversary of KyivPride’s first Equality March — the most important LGBTQ rights occasion in Ukraine — however the Russian invasion and ongoing conflict rendered marching within the Ukrainian capital not possible.
“When we looked into the future, we realized that unfortunately we could not foresee when the war will stop, or how we can actually be visible as a community,” Emson defined. “During the Russian invasion, Warsaw Pride was always helping us with humanitarian aid and with medications, and they were sheltering our people. So it was very natural for us to partner with the nation that has accepted the biggest number of Ukrainian refugees.”
For Warsaw Pride President Julia Maciocha, the KyivPride partnership additionally made good sense.
“They explained how they were supposed to celebrate their 10-year anniversary, but of course due to this horrendous war, they cannot do that in Kyiv,” she stated. “So they asked if they could use Warsaw Pride and make a joint march, to let them walk on our streets since they cannot walk on their own.”
The mixed KyivPride and Warsaw Pride march promoted a multipronged manifesto, together with a name to queer folks round Europe and the world to present “maximum solidarity” with LGBTQ Ukrainians.
“If you want the queer community in Ukraine to survive, help our country,” Emson urged. “This is the main message.”
Emson stated he believes Warsaw’s Equality Parade — the most important annual Pride march in Central Europe — may mark the primary time a Pride parade marched not simply for LGBTQ rights however for broader human rights.
“We are marching for basic human rights for all people,” he stated, “because right now, Russia is taking them from us — the right to life, the right to freedom, the right to security, the right to peace.”
Though members of the Ukrainian army — and certainly all males between the ages of 18 and 60 — had been precluded by legislation from leaving the nation to be at at present’s march in Poland, KyivPride organizers had been ready to herald 25 activists from LGBTQ organizations throughout Ukraine.
“We wanted our LGBTQI movement to be represented, and these are the best of the best in our movement who work with us,” Emson stated.
Ukrainian refugees dwelling in Poland and neighboring international locations had been additionally warmly invited to participate within the Warsaw march. Not so eagerly embraced had been a pro-Russian group of potential marchers, who had been advised in no unsure phrases that selling Russia can be forbidden.
“The goal of their group was to advocate for free Russia and for Russians against the war,” Emson stated. “We politely asked them not to do that. ‘You can march with us,’ we told them, ‘but please do not promote anything related to Russia. Please do not take our space from us.’
Emson added, “If people want to advocate for free Russia, there are places where these actions would make more sense — like in front of the Russian Consulate, for example.”
Maciocha stated Warsaw Pride’s pairing with KyivPride was not solely vitally essential but in addition precisely the form of intra-European communion she’s been striving for with her Warsaw-based LGBTQ activism.
“I’m putting a lot of effort into building coalitions and building bridges with activists from the whole of Europe,” Maciocha defined. “I’m trying to connect us, to stay in touch, to know what is happening in different countries, to know what are the biggest struggles in different countries around Poland — so we can support each other, we can help each other, and we can also learn from each other’s experiences.
“So for me, this situation where KyivPride or any other Pride can call Warsaw Pride and say, ‘Listen, we cannot do it without you,’ and they know that we are going to help them — this is the situation I’m fighting for. It’s the situation I want for the future of activism. I want us to be there for each other in the darkest, darkest times.”
Emson stated he and the opposite marchers are “extremely grateful” to Poland.
“You know, we have the same context. Poland has the same problems with Russia that we do, and the situation with homophobia and transphobia in our countries is more or less the same,” he said. “I would say in Ukraine it is a bit worse, but still, they understand us, they know us, and we understand them, we know them. That’s why this partnering was very natural.”
KyivPride can also be being represented domestically at a number of different Pride occasions world wide this yr, together with at Riga Pride in Latvia final weekend. On Sunday, Toronto’s Pride march will function a big Ukrainian contingent, in a metropolis with one of many largest Ukrainian diaspora populations on the earth.
“For the local Prides in other cities and countries, we let people decide what is their goal,” Emson stated. Some Ukrainians, as in London, simply need to be seen as a gaggle at their native Pride occasions, he defined, whereas others are elevating cash for KyivPride and for the LGBTQ group in Ukraine. Still others have particular goals.
“In Riga for example, they were marching for freedom,” Emson stated. “For them this was very important, because Latvia is a neighbor country to Russia, and they understand very well that if Ukraine would not resist, what will happen to them? They will be next. So freedom for them is crucial right now.”
Emson stated the important thing factor for the worldwide LGBTQ group to bear in mind proper now could be that like the complete Ukrainian populace, its queer persons are struggling, although their struggles are sometimes much less seen.
“All of us saw the Bucha massacre, and we saw what Russians did to Mariupol,” he stated. “When you see this news from Ukraine, you should ask yourself, ‘How many queer people died in Bucha? How many queer people were shelled in Mariupol? How many queer people were raped among all the women that Russians raped in occupied territories?’ Those are the questions we should ask ourselves.
“So we would ask you to not give up on Ukraine, to stand up for Ukraine, to remind the world that Ukraine needs help. When you pay attention to the fact that LGBTQI people are part of the population that is suffering inside Ukraine, you’re helping us already.”
Emson is already looking forward to the day when KyivPride can welcome LGBTQ people from around the world to the Ukrainian capital.
“When you march today, think of all LGBTQI Ukrainians who are with you in their thoughts and who cannot march today,” he advised the gang firstly of Saturday’s occasion. “But they are welcoming you to KyivPride when we celebrate the victory — you will come to Kyiv and march with us.”
