The Russian invasion changes Ukrainian society. Lesbians, gays and queer people feel that the country is becoming more open. However, it is a slow process. Discrimination still exists – even in the army.
Petro was fed up with the secrecy. He recently came out on November 16th. Petro is 22, he comes from the Ukrainian port city of Odessa and doesn’t want to hide anymore. Not even in the army.
On February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, Petro decided to join the Ukrainian army and defend his family. When his mother learned of his intention, she locked him in the house, but he climbed out of the second floor and went to the draft board. Since he was a pastry chef, the army hired him as a cook. This service was also dangerous: “The first night we were bombed, I got scared and thought: Why did I even dare to do that? I didn’t even know how to hold a rifle.”
“Why did I even dare to do that?” says Petro. “I didn’t even know how to hold a gun.”
(Photo: private)
Petro remained in the army anyway. He trained as a combat medic – first theoretically, then practically: Under the supervision of a surgeon, he stitched up a small cut on his own leg that he had previously inflicted on himself. “It was scary, but anything can happen in war and you have to be prepared for it,” says Petro.
For Petro, however, it wasn’t just the fear of wounds and bomb attacks: he was under constant stress because of his sexual orientation. He was bullied, excluded and discriminated against – so much so that he suffered acute stress reactions.
“Harassment still prevails in the army”
Many LGBTIQ people remain hidden in Ukraine due to homophobia, transphobia, discrimination and fear for their careers. In a European one Ranking When it comes to the rights of LGBTIQ people, Ukraine is only in 39th place, between Liechtenstein and Bulgaria. The situation is no better in the army, even though it has been unified since 2018 Ukrainian LGBTIQ military for equal rights gives. “In the Armed Forces of Ukraine there are between two and seven percent LGBT representatives. In total, there are about 400 military personnel in our association, and about 70 of them are open,” says Maksym Potapovych, communication manager of the NGO.
Survey show that 44 percent of Ukrainians have a neutral attitude towards LGBTIQ people in the army. Therefore, military doctor Petro Zlotia believes that there is progress in acceptance and understanding of LGBTIQ people in the armed forces, albeit at a low level. “But there is still harassment in the army, if someone has a higher rank they feel like kings, ordinary soldiers are not listened to, especially if you are different,” said Petro. According to the NGO LGBTIQ-Military, attitudes towards soldiers from the community in Ukrainian society have improved – but in the Ukrainian armed forces everything depends on the policies of the troop leaders.
Petro is still in the army. He normally works as a trainer for combat medics, but he is currently receiving psychotherapeutic treatment in a hospital – a result of his acute stress reactions. In August he noticed spots on his body that he initially paid no attention to. That in itself was a sign of his illness, as he later learned. After a short vacation in October, he was unexpectedly informed that he was being transferred to another unit. “I think one of the reasons for that was because I’m an LGBT person. Someone in the brigade told me that the commander didn’t want people like me in the battalion. Although I like where I am now much better “That was unpleasant.”
Fed up with homophobic jokes
Petro deliberately timed his coming out on November 16th, the International Day for Tolerance. “I didn’t want to make a big deal about it, but I wanted to be honest with myself and I want people to react to it normally. I’m tired of all these homophobic jokes from people who have two degrees.” At the same time, Petro expected more hatred. In fact, there were few negative comments on his coming out on social media. In his opinion, the fact that despite everything he received mostly friendly reactions is due to the Russian invasion. “Unfortunately, our people have only become more tolerant because of the war,” says Petro. “People have realized that we are united by a common goal and that gays and lesbians also fight on the front lines and perform their duties no worse than other military personnel. We are very good professionals, but we are still bullied when people from ours experiencing sexual orientation.”
A key problem for LGBTIQ military members is that they are not allowed to marry their partners. This is an important issue for soldiers: in the event of death, partners do not even have the right to identify and release the body. But Petro’s impression that the war is making progress here may be correct: according to a survey by the sociological group “Rating”, 42 percent of Ukrainians support the idea of granting the partners of LGBTIQ soldiers the same rights as the law for all military personnel and their families.
“Aren’t you afraid of getting punched in the nose?”
Nevertheless, Petro’s experiences of bullying and discrimination are not an isolated case. Maria Volya from Mariupol has been serving in the Ukrainian armed forces since 2015. The 30-year-old corporal is one of 43,000 women who have served in the Ukrainian army since the beginning of the great Russian war of aggression. She is currently in a psychiatric clinic, being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression because she was not understood by those around her. She has been openly homosexual for years.
For many of her male comrades, it is difficult enough to accept a woman in the army, she says: Most soldiers think that women are, above all, a burden. However, after the start of the war, she herself noticed that some of the men who had been drafted were not as resilient as she was. “I’m tired of having to prove that I can do all the tasks just as well as the men. And that you is still considered weak,” says the soldier.
Sometime after the Ukrainian army withdrew from Mariupol, Maria told her comrades that she had a girlfriend. At first they thought it was just a story to protect themselves from unwanted advances, says Maria. After an open one Statement on Instagram She received a call from her superior that same evening: “My commander yelled at me to delete the post or the information that I was a member of the brigade so as not to put her in an embarrassing situation.” A psychologist later said to her: “Aren’t you afraid of getting hit in the nut?”
Maria has now received a marriage proposal from her friend; they dream of getting married in Denmark, because that is not possible in Ukraine. “I’m not very optimistic that same-sex marriage will be legalized here any time soon. We already have Petitions signed, sent appeals to politicians and did what we could. Some people say there are no or very few LGBT people in the army. But coming out in public is really very risky, we still get harassed.”
At the same time, Maria is convinced that it is necessary to make oneself public in order to become stronger and more visible. Otherwise, she is sure, nothing will change.