Huge rave for LGBT+ rights to take place right outside Ukrainian president’s window

This year, Ukrainian activists have decided to do Pride a little differently.

On Friday (30 July), members of newly-established NGO UkrainePride will drag their speakers and turntables across Kyiv to stage a huge rave outside the office of Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine.

The event comes just days after a successful Pride march supported by Amnesty Ukraine, which took place in the president’s hometown, Kryvyi Rih.

None of this is solely about queer joy and hard-hitting electronica; at the core of these Pride protests is a demand to adopt LGBT+ anti-discrimination policies and address hate crimes in the country.

As it stands, activists don’t exactly have hope that president Zelensky is working towards these goals.

Despite alluding to progressive policies in his presidential campaign, advancements in LGBT+ rights haven’t moved forward as quickly as expected.

Not only has Zelensky failed to challenge support of a proposed “gay propaganda law” within his own party, human rights organisations have noted continued oppression of LGBT+ people by far-right parties as well as unaddressed hate crime and a reluctance by Zelensky to speak openly and at length to clarify his stance when it comes to anti-LGBT+ policies.

Activists protested outside the president’s office last month, but were swiftly removed by police.