Queer Ukraine by The Dvijka Collective

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Subtitled “An Anthology of LGBTQI+ Ukrainian Voices During Wartime” it draws our focus on the fact that Ukraine is being attacked by not just a generally repressive regime but a regime that is increasingly brutal in its domestic oppression of LGBTQI+ people, a complete contrast to the progressive direction of travel within the Ukraine (while we should not pretend that Ukraine was a liberal paradise for LGBTQI+ it was certainly moving in the right direction).

So the anthology explores the fear the invasion brings, the determination to defend not only Ukraine but their Queer identities on the literal front line of the war. What does that reality ask of us as Queer people in the relative comfort of the UK, and how should we be more active in defending and prompting the rights of Queer people here and around the world.

There is also an exploration of how Queer and Ukrainian identities fit together – some feel that they are forced into a choice be Ukrainian or be Queer, can any of us be simultaneously Patriotic and Queer? The length of LGBTQI+ oppression and marginalisation in our society’s past and, to varying degrees, present places a distance between a full-bodied embrace. Yet to reject our national identity can be to play into a narrative that Queerness is a recent invention – we need to clam our Queer histories within our National histories, even when that is a history of oppression.

To hear voices from beyond our own bubble is so vital, and this anthology is a precious thing – there should be more like it amplifying Queer voices from so many unheard places.