For the Sake of the World, Pride Must Find Its Politics Again
Last Saturday, toward the end of the Riga-Kyiv Pride March for Freedom in Latvia, I saw a burly man in a unicorn head lean out of a second-floor window and wave grandly at the parade below.
His yellow and blue shirt had “Kyiv” emblazoned across it. March participants had been leading the 5,000-strong crowd in the chant “Make love, not war,” artfully linking the right to love, everywhere, with the right to self-determination and peace in Ukraine.
In response to the queer Minotaur in Ukraine’s colors, the marchers erupted into cries of “Slava Ukraini,” or “Glory to Ukraine.” There can, of course, be no Pride marches in Ukraine this year.
Instead, Kyiv Pride, which has been organizing marches in the Ukrainian capital since 2012, has been invited to participate in a series of joint events across Eastern Europe, such as last week’s in Riga.
