Human right activist
UKRAINE
‘The human being, his or her life and health, honour and dignity, inviolability and security are recognised in Ukraine as the highest social value.
Human rights and freedoms and their guarantees determine the essence and orientation of the activity of the State. The State is answerable to the individual for its activity. To affirm and ensure human rights and freedoms is the main duty of the State.’
CONSTITUTION OF UKRAINE - Article 3
Protest is a form of direct power. That’s what I have learned growing up in Ukraine.
My parents taught me to be fair and honest, my country taught me how to be strong and free. God made me female and gay. No surprise that I was fighting for my rights when I came back to Kharkiv.
Rights are not something that are just given to you, but they are something that you should take.
This picture of me was taken during Covid. We changed from walking Pride to Car Pride for that year. It is me on my road in my city screaming about my needs.
My activism started in 2019, when I joined the volunteer team for Kyiv Pride.
I was a member of the communication team. We were spread along the crowd and were responsible for providing information to the volunteers in our procession. All our team members were from Kharkiv and a few weeks before we were trained to use walkie talkies.
Additionally, we had a lot of security training. Mostly around safety aspects.
Pictures: KyivPride 2019
If you are openly saying that you are gay in Ukraine, you should think about your safety. If you are organizing a big protest for gay rights – you should think about safety really well.
In Ukraine Pride is not a celebration. It is a riot. It is a statement. It is a constant fight for basic rights.
Pictures: KharkivPride 2019
To make Pride possible it is guarded and surrounded by police. To make it possible – metro stations get involved to help with evacuation after Pride. To make it possible that we are hiding all attributes before and after pride.
All these are because of hate crimes. All of this because we are still fighting.
Pictures: KharkivPride 2021
I was an active part of the community from 2019 to February 2022. I took part in several events and performances. I used my free time to contribute to the community in small and big actions. I was involved in Pride activities, in life of Pride Hub and was doing my own performances to increase visibility of LGBT people in Ukraine.
From renovation in community space...
...to my face on the city streets to advertise the upcoming Pride.
‘Text - Love is not a sin’
If some day we will achieve marriage equality in Ukraine – I will say ‘There is my small contribution in it’.
The other part of my activism was around female rights. I am a feminist, and I took an active part in making gender inequality and gender-based abuse a topic of conversation, to highlight that the problem does exist.
Text: ‘Not a victim – a survivor’
In Ukraine we have tradition to celebrate International Women’s Day, it takes a shape of sexism and celebration of typically sexistic beliefs about females. So, to remind people that this day is about female rights we would protest and highlight woman’s problems.
Text ‘I’m not a bunny’
Throughout the years I would use any platform as an opportunity to talk about female rights. To highlight the existing problems. To be a voice for others, to be a fighter for myself.
