LGBTIQ+ Pride Month: how it happens in Odesa

Pride and equality marches are a hotly debated topic in Ukrainian society, with some people supporting them and others strongly opposing them.

In the new issue of Accent, we will analyze who supports the LGBTIQ+ community and who opposes such events and what arguments both sides give.

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Pride Month, or LGBTIQ+ Pride Month, is an annual June celebration of pride that honors the contributions of LGBTIQ+ people to the general culture and community. Numerous educational events and solidarity campaigns dedicated to LGBTIQ+ issues take place throughout the month. The most famous event of Pride Month is the Pride Parade. It is a peaceful march that is mostly held in late June to honor the dignity and freedom of LGBTIQ+ people.

Pride is not a carnival - it is a peaceful march for rights

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.

From the very beginning of the LGBTIQ+ community's parades in Ukraine, various activists and members of the public have spoken out against them. Most often, they represent religious organizations, right-wing radical movements, and conservative public associations.

To prevent children from seeing pride parades

"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 time, Intenta's correspondent Kateryna Galenko was also at Odesa Pride, which took place in the city center on May 17. So she saw and felt everything from the middle of the march.

If it wasn't for the police, it's scary to imagine what would have happened to us

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.

Кирило Бойко

LGBT Odesa action police traditions