LGBTIQ+ Pride Month: how it happens in Odesa

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When we talk about LGBT Pride, or gay pride, we need to understand that we are not talking about any carnivals, parades, or any holiday stories. In fact, from the very beginning of the existence of such a phenomenon as pride, and still for most countries of the world, it is primarily a protective event. It is a measured demonstration, a measured rally that takes place solely to talk about the social problems and social challenges that people face. There is nothing more human rights-oriented for the LBTIQ community than pride.

Anna Leonova, Head of the Odesa Pride Organizing Committee and Executive Director of the Gay Alliance Ukraine NGO.

"Our main complaint is that the LGBT ideology contradicts the traditional values of our country. Most people in our country find LGBT people unacceptable. Any perversions that are promoted at these prides, at these parades. And, well, of course, we want to raise
our children, the next generations of this country, in such conditions where they can go out into the streets of their city and not see these perversions. We want to bring up the next generations in a normal environment.

Ilya Popkov, head of the Odesa branch of the NGO Tradition and Order.

This year I was at the Odesa Pik Project both as a journalist from Intenta and as a part of the community. I was at the very epicenter of the events and saw with my own eyes how threatening people in balaclavas were gathering behind the barricades behind the rows of police officers. I'm scared to imagine what would have happened if not for those ranks of law enforcement officers and the fence. Then on the news, we all saw how these aggressive protesters attacked the police, and they could have attacked us. It was because of this danger that we were later evacuated from Primorsky Boulevard by bus.

Kateryna Galenko.