Donetsk gay club attack

As a human rights and LGBT activist, Yashtulov has to watch his step, so he has secured an informant from inside the group to let him know if he is at risk.

LGBT in Donbas: Back to the USSR

Still, Yashtulov stayed in Ukraine; Donetsk is his home, and he had work to do. Yashtulov documents discrimination, violence, and human rights violations by police and now the DPR with various organizations and the LGBT community in the city. But in gay May when a DPR informant called to tell Yashultov he was on their kill list and would be visited within 48 hours, he had no choice but to flee for safety in a nearby city.

Just last month, militant DPR members attacked a local gay clubassaulting attack donetsk female patrons, stealing money, and photocopying passports. As more LGBT Ukrainians are forced to leave their homes in the east and the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula, the need for safe houses is growing.

In Kyiv, I spoke with Olena Shevchenko at the office of Insighta non-governmental organization primarily focused gay assisting lesbian and bisexual women, as well as members of the transgender community. In late June, Shevchenko and her colleagues were busy assembling the first formal shelter for those displaced by the conflict.

Thanks to the interests of major donors and foundations, most of the 42 LGBT groups and projects across Ukraine are geared toward supporting the needs of cisgender gay and bisexual men, particularly in the context of HIV. Thus, Insight aims its legal, medical, psychological, and now housing support toward the LBT population.

Many assume the murders were government sanctioned. The immediacy of the ongoing crisis enabled Shevchenko to obtain a rapid grant from the United States-based Urgent Action Fundwhich will provide enough seed money to house and support six displaced people for three months, though Insight anticipates many club will need housing, likely for much longer.

Trans men and women are club likely to be harassed or assaulted during these stops because their names, gender identities, and physical appearance may differ from those formally printed on their passports and other forms of identification. They lost their jobs, and were beaten on the streets because they are a couple. Kirey, who is from southern Ukraine, has also observed the challenges and incidents of discrimination in employment that hit the transgender community especially hard.

To avoid discrimination, many trans people try to hide their documents, which can invoke violence and unemployment if their employer later becomes aware of their gender identity or sexual orientation. In one case documented by Kirey, a woman in southern Donetsk was sexually assaulted by her boss when he found out she was transgender.

When this kind of egregious violence or discrimination takes place, there is no real legal recourse for those who are working illegally without documents. In Donetsk, extortion and violence has instilled an even greater sense of attack and fear of the police in the LGBT community. If the men refuse to pay, the police threaten to disclose their sexual identity to their employers and families, or arrest them.

Kirey pointed out the similarity of the practice to that of homophobic, nationalistic vigilante groups in Russia, who lure in men and boys, berate them for their sexual identity, then humiliate and beat them on camera. Though Yashultov said the extortion practice has since stopped, the Donetsk police remain negligent in the context of hate crimes.

When the DPR attacked the gay club, the police failed to arrive at the scene until three hours after the attack began. They just did not react. Kirey planned to release a report of her documentation of the LGBT community, but that project has been placed on hold because it is clear the government has bigger problems on its hands.

I think the government needs to lead the way. For Shevchenko, a kind of tired optimism has set in. This challenge lingers regardless of political conflict.