LGBTQ+ rave takes place outside of President's office in Ukraine

A rave for LGBTQ+ rights took place on Friday, July 30th in Ukraine directly outside of President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s office in Kyiv.

President Zelensky has been in office for a little over two years, after having been elected in 2019.  Initially, he was welcomed by equality activists, but has since fallen behind in support after failing to clarify his stance on LGBTQ+ rights. He has lacked condemnation for an anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that his party has drafted, which sparked outrage, leading many to draw comparisons to Russia‘s ‘anti-gay propaganda’ laws that prohibit the distribution of materials promoting “non-traditional sexual relationships”.

Rave Pride comes in conjunction with UkrainianPride, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness and aiding in the equality among the communities. They hosted the event that featured a full sound system and stage with DJs performing from 4:00pm to 10:00pm local time. Some of the DJs selected to perform included Nastia, Katro Zauber,  Olha Korovina and many more.  The event aimed to establish a new form of advocacy focused on making noise to highlight endemic problems in the country.

“Advocacy is any action that shines a light on the violations of a person’s rights, and UkrainePride is looking for the most diverse and most creative ways to do that, the word ‘rave’ comes from the word ‘noise’, and I believe the protest needs to be noisy so that people pay attention.” says UkrainianPride Co-Founder Sofiia Lapina.

Learn more about UkrainianPride here.

Image credit: KyivPride (via Facebook)