"We are also dying for Ukraine. There is no difference who loves whom" — how members of the LGBTIQA+ community defend Ukraine
Representatives of the LGBTQIA+ community participated in the war even before the full-scale invasion. Their exact number is unknown. Back then, few people publicly came out. However, after February 24, their representatives in the army began to be talked about more often. They formed a community and an LGBTQIA+ — military NGO to fight for their rights.
During Pride month, traditionally held in June, Svidomi talked to representatives of the LGBTQIA+ community about their experiences in the military and why Ukraine needs to pass a law on registered partnerships.
Registered partnerships. Why does the Ministry of Defence oppose it?
Registered partnerships are a new institution for those who cannot or do not want to get married. It is open to military and civilians, as well as same-sex and different-sex couples can register.
This draft bill was introduced to the Verkhovna Rada by Inna Sovsun, a Holos (Voice) party member. The NGOs Ukrainian LGBTQIA+ Military for Equal Rights and Fulcrum UA drafted it over nine months.
The drafters of the bill are sure that, if supported, it will help LGBTQIA+ couples define mutual rights and responsibilities, property ownership, inheritance, social protection, and rights in the event of the death or disappearance of a partner.
The Ministry of Defence opposed the adoption of registered partnerships. The Ministry believes that the draft law equates registered partnerships with marriage. At the same time, according to Article 51 of the Constitution, marriage is based on the free consent of a woman and a man.
However, the explanatory note states that a registered partnership is not a marriage and is not an obstacle to marriage between registered partners, provided that other requirements established by law are met. In case of marriage, the partnership between people is terminated.
The Ministry is also against commanders having the right to draw up and certify a partnership registration act in cases where one or both partners are military personnel, as well as to seal such an act with the stamp of the relevant military formation. They believe that this does not apply to the duties of commanders.
The ministry also added that information about thousands of service members who cannot formalise their relationships requires further study due to the lack of relevant data in the Ministry of Defence.
Daniel Johnson, a military psychologist in the Air Assault Forces
Daniel Johnson comes from Chernihiv. Before the full-scale invasion, he worked at a local foundation to protect people with disabilities and studied law at Chernihiv Polytechnic National University.
On February 25, he went to the military registration and enlistment office. He already had military experience — in 2016-2018, he took part in the war in the east.
I wanted to be mobilised on February 24, but the head of the military commissariat said there was no position for me yet. I have dual employment as a medic and a tank commander, so they told me to wait. They called and told me to come to the recruitment centre the next day. After that, we started defending Chernihiv,
the soldier says.
Now Johnson serves as a military psychologist with the Air Assault Forces, visiting the positions of the Ukrainian military at the front and military units, where he tries to get the soldiers' stability of mind.
Many members of the LGBTQIA+ community are in the army. The LGBTQIA+ military community includes 180 people, and all of them are at the forefront. We have not left Ukraine; none of us has gone to the other side. No one is afraid because we know that nothing will change if we stay at home. Russian troops will continue to move on, destroying villages and towns, killing children and women,
Johnson says.
He is not afraid to speak openly about his sexual identity, but he does not discuss it much in the army.
Sometimes you tell someone about yourself, and they block you afterwards. Sometimes they refuse to go into battle with you or work with you,
the soldier says.
He explains this reaction because some military personnel believe that an LGBTQIA+ person can get confused in a difficult moment, leave the battlefield or surrender. Still, it depends on the individual, not on their sexual orientation.
However, he believes queer people should not be afraid to come out, as this will increase society's tolerance for them. And civil partnerships are needed so that LGBTQIA+ couples also have rights and protection so that they have a future and can start a family.
This draft law does not contradict the Constitution or civil law. It is a kind of marriage contract that, for example, will allow a partner to be present at a funeral or identification or to receive an inheritance,
he explains.
Oleksandr Zhuhan, mortar battery gunner with the 206th Battalion
Oleksandr is 38 years old, a film director and an actor. He studied psychology because he wanted to work with children and adults in an environmentally friendly way. Then he had the idea to set up a theatre studio.
I haven't practised as a psychologist for a long time. Rather, I perceive myself as a person involved in theatre. And now it's been a year since I haven't written, acted or staged anything, and I feel pulled out of the theatre community and my everyday life,
says Oleksandr.
Oleksandr Zhuhan never imagined himself in the army, and as a child, his favourite toys were not machine guns or pistols but construction sets - he liked to build and create.
When the Russians launched a full-scale invasion, I realised that the ways we discussed the war were not working,
he says.
In 2015, Oleksandr and his partner and colleagues created the Postplay Theatre, where they staged performances on acute social issues, including the war, and worked with internally displaced people.
"You can't continue to be creative and keep doing what you're doing when tanks come to your house. It's not about choice but about the impossibility of choice. At that time [at the beginning of the full-scale invasion], my then-partner and I looked at each other and were like: "Well, what? Shall we join the territorial defence forces? Let's do it," he says.
When Oleksandr Zhuhan and his partner came to the territorial defence forces, many people of different ages, social statuses and genders were there. It made them feel safer, although before, the man had perceived the army as a purely masculine, toxic environment.
According to Zhuhan's experience, discrimination in the army is manifested in the fact that members of the LGBTQIA+ community are not allowed to work, may not be given a handshake during greetings, and often use offensive words about Russians that may offend members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
For example, they say that my job requires strong guys. It is a lie. We have proven a hundred times that we can handle a mortar of any calibre,
he says.
In May 2022, Oleksandr and his then-partner first served in Mykolaiv, then went to the Kherson region. There, their boss told them that he did not want to see homophobia in his team.
"Such a conversation is great. I believe every commander should clarify the situation and their position this way," says Oleksandr Zhuhan.
In his opinion, everything that LGBTQIA+ military personnel do now makes Ukrainian society more tolerant.
On the other hand, I receive disgusting comments in my messages. It's not that I focus on what people write on social media, but we see a cross-section of people's opinions,
Zhuhan says.
The military supports the introduction of registered partnerships in Ukraine. In his opinion, such partnerships will enable same-sex couples to acquire property, healthcare and death rights.
From a legal point of view, my partner and I are nobody to each other. The law does not see us; we are invisible. The law on civil partnerships will be useful not only for homosexual couples but also for heterosexual couples who do not want a 'traditional marriage in a registry office with manicured ladies',
the military says.
Zhuhan draws a parallel between the adoption of the law on civil partnerships and the law on the functioning of the Ukrainian Language because then, like now, there were also people who said that law was not required and would not affect anything.
Oleksandr Shadskykh, medical doctor
Oleksandr Shadskykh is a fifth-year medical student at the Bogomolets National Medical University. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the student council organised students who agreed to help the army as volunteer medics. Oleksandr himself never thought he would end up at war.
When studying medicine, I realised that war and medicine were opposites.Medicine saves lives, while war takes them away. I could never imagine being on the front line,
he says.
At first, Shadskykh helped treat the military in the Kyiv region and later in Kharkiv. During the first days of the full-scale invasion, he did not fully understand the war.
Doctors are not taught the art of war. How to fight, hold a rifle or behave - we learnt it on the go at the front line,
the doctor says.
Near Kyiv, one of the Ukrainian soldiers suffered a burn injury. Oleksandr Shadskykh helped him and later received an award from the President for Saving a Life.
When he went to the Kharkiv region, there were two medics in the unit to provide assistance, but then Oleksandr was left alone — the other one was injured. There, he began to study people and the way they thought.
Some people were tolerant, and some were homophobic. My company consisted of volunteers, people from all walks of life. I found friends there and told them about my orientation,
says Shadskykh.
He did not face any aggression or discrimination. He also gave an interview to the Kyiv TV channel.
There was a bully in our unit. But he told me: "It's hard for me to accept this, but for me, you will remain our Vitamin (Oleksandr's callsign - ed.),
the medic says.
After the interview, when almost everyone in the unit learned about Oleksandr's orientation, the attitude towards the medic did not change: "I was valuable. If I had been an ordinary soldier, it might have been different. But we established friendly relations in the team," he says.
Now Shadskykh continues his studies at the university. "If the war continues until I get my medical licence, I will return to the army”, says Oleksandr.
