Gays in Donetsk face fear as Russian influence takes grip

Now people with alternative sexual orientations or views on gender have much to fear from the self-proclaimed Russian-separatist authorities. Gays are mostly associated with liberal European views, something the authorities in Donetsk claim they are fighting against. As the Moscow-backed separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko once said: “We will destroy the Kyiv junta and Euro-gays!”

In fear of being seen in public, 20-year-old Dmitri invites me to his apartment in central Donetsk. His last name isn’t published because of personal safety concerns.

“I’m different than most people,” Dmitri said.

He is a tall, lean, muscular, young man who takes his physique seriously. Dmitri feels uncomfortable in public areas. “It’s mostly a psychological thing that most young gays have, but I always think that people might see that I’m gay in the way I act or speak,” he says.

Dmitry still struggles with his sexual identity and his self-confidence suffers for it. Only a few female friends know he is gay, as well as some friends in Kharkiv and Kyiv. His situation is similar to a lot of other gays who live inside the Russian-separatist territories.

Asked why he doesn’t want to leave Donetsk, he said: “I would have to start all over. I don’t want to do that during this war. I have a good job…If I leave Donetsk I have to start from scratch, and that’s something I don’t want to do now.”

Dmitri works as a clerk in a small real estate firm that still does business in Donetsk. He’s unwilling to talk about his job, other than saying he earns good money.

“Living as a gay man here seems lonely, but in fact it isn’t,” he said.

He shows a gay dating application on his smart phone that is used to locate other gay men in the area.

“Look, right now there are ten other gay men online in and around Donetsk,” he said. Some are bare chested and show their muscles, others are more casual. “It’s the only way to meet other gays in Donetsk,” Dmitri told the Kyiv Post.

But there’s also a very dangerous side to using the app in Russian-held Donetsk, according to Dmitri.

“It is feared that fighters use the app with fake pictures, then meet a gay guy, and beat them or even imprison them. There have been stories of gay men being forced to join the ‘DPR’ army,” he said, adding that he’s not completely sure this information is correct.

“There’s a war here, so fear rules the city,” Dmitri said.

Veronica, the self-proclaimed Ministry of Information spokeswoman, who would only provide her first name, said only that “there are no gays in Donetsk, as they all went to Kyiv.”

Indeed fearing for their lives once Russia invaded eastern Ukraine in mid-April 2014, many fled for other big cities like Kharkiv or Kyiv.

Amnesty Ukraine spokesman Bogdan Ovcharuk called the situation “worrying.”

“The situation in east Ukraine is tense and due to Russian influence hatred of the LGBT community is growing. We don’t have numbers of cases of violence against LGBTs there as many gays are too scared to talk. Keep in mind that even once they’re in Kyiv or other cities, their parents and family are still in the occupied territories,” Ovcharuk said.

Displaced members of the gay community get help from Insight, an LGBT-rights group that provides shelter just a few miles outside Kyiv.

One of them is 24-year-old Arseniy from Russian-held Horlivka. He, too, refuses to give his last name in order to protect his family back home. He lived for three months at a shelter with five other gay men after coming to Kyiv.

“This gave me the opportunity to find a job, which I now have, and prepare for a new life,” he said.

Arseniy works as a waiter in one of Kyiv’s many restaurants. On weekends he frequents Kyiv’s gay clubs. “The whole atmosphere is good. I can meet other gays, and there is nothing to be afraid of. Of course, there are anti-gay people. But they’re everywhere. Also, in America and Europe,” he said.

Insight director and prominent LGBT activist Olena Shevchenko said that the rights of LGBT people in Ukraine are ignored everywhere.

“There’s repression…Not just in the warzone. Everyone deserves fair economic and social rights. LGBTs included,” she said. “Don’t forget that a lot of gays in Ukraine took part in the EuroMaidan Revolution. The acceptance of homosexuality is seen by many as an outcome of European moral standards.”

In the east of Ukraine the situation for LGBT people has always been bad, and with each day it becomes worse, according to Shevchenko.

“This has all to do with the Russian influence in the east,” she said.

Kyiv Post staff writer Stefan Huijboom can be reached at stefanhuijboom@gmail.com