To look at videos from last year’s Pride Parade in Kyiv is to peer at a joyous moment of solidarity in the quest for gay rights in Ukraine.
A video on YouTube shows a cheerful crowd of thousands. Some wave flags. Some carry banners. Drag queens dance on a float. But the war that started when Russia invaded on Feb.
24 has forced Ukraine’s L.G.B.T.Q. movement to confront a threat not only to national sovereignty, but also to its own community.
A pro-Russian puppet government, they say, would be less supportive of the L.G.B.T.Q. agenda. Gay marriage would likely remain unrecognized, they say, and incidents of discrimination and hate crime would rise, as they have in Russian-backed separatist regions.