"Gays live here under law of jungle, each for himself."
(from a letter, Dnepropetrovsk)
"There is such a feeling that, along with legalization of homosexuality, it cease to exist. It all was easier before. We met in baths, toilets. And now everybody fears everything."
(an opinion of the person who remembers life before perestroyka)
This review is prepared on the base of materials which the edition has been able to collect recently. Unfortunately, the facts are very scant. And most probably, this article is not reflect activity of all the activists and groups that have been working and are working now in Ukraine, but we still have tried to deduce the characteristic features of our country's gay community.
Gay community in Ukraine consists of a quantity of small public groups. The ground for gays' unity is sexual orientation, yet groups' forming comes mostly on the base of the social interests.
The social life of gay community passes in the said groups, in interactions of these groups (transition of people, information) within certain city, in personal relations of some people with other groups beyond their places. Integration of gay community's social life into social and political life of all the society, country is extremely little.
From a letter:
«There are no gay organizations and activity in Poltava. I have a rather vast (within Poltava) circle of acquaintance. We keep relationships, meet. I want to notice that our age is within 22-30 years. We have even older acquaintances. But they, as a rule, stew in their own juice, in other words we meet them only in the streets. There is quite a little of young people, either they just don't exist or they poorly informed or have their own circle of acquaintance.
There was an attempt to found the organization of Ganimed as far back as 1993 but nobody wanted to give his passport information.»
The certain part of gay men prefer to gather at pleshki (cruising places) - as a rule they are places close to free public toilets in parks, transport stations. The attitude of gays to pleshki is extremely contradictory - from avoiding such places to defending "cruising lifestyle" as truly homosexual. Yet in spite of discrepancy of opinions about pleshki among gays, there sometimes proceeds rather active life. Here you can meet contacting or looking for contacts people from quite different sections of the society - from young carefree "little girls" to respectable men. There is a special subculture of relations here, underlined affectation of manners, habalstvo (camp), nicknames, often feminine, extravagant behaviour, é patage of those around.
Only absolute minority of gays visit pleshki. In the recent years public baths cease to be meeting places too.
Along with coming of summer and beginning of holiday season there still attract gay and nudist beaches those are in Kiev, Kharkov, Odessa, Simeiz nearby Yalta, etc.
There is no any visible lesbian community in Ukraine. It is much more difficult for women than to men to find a circle of acquaintance. Having found a partner, two women often lock themselves within close couple and stop meeting other lesbians. It happens more often than for male couples.
Until now most visible was the work of some activists. As a rule their work consist in organization of acquaintance services for "people of non-standard sexual orientation" and/or sale of literature directed toward gays.
Such individual enthusiasts now appear, now disappear, sometimes calling themselves by loud names alike the organization Prometey (Mariupol, Donetsk Region) but really working people now can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
One of the widely known through all Ukraine activists leads Cherkassy Acquaintance Service for people of non-standard sexual orientation. This sevice has worked since 1993 and already collected a good data bank. Because of our cooperation, now the acquaintance service is carried on as a catalog of ads distributed free.
In Lugansk there works an acquaintance service Golubaya roza (Blue Rose) receiving on average 10-15 letters in a week from all Ukraine.
The literature can be bought in Mariupol, Odessa, Severodonetsk and other places. Usually all these offers are informal and expensive, working with customers by mail and advance payment.
One of large gay movement centres is Zaporozhye. For long time there exists Zaporozhye Regional Centre for sex-minorities here.
From a letter:
«Since November, 1993 until December, 1997 more than 300 different people - Ukrainians and Uzbeks, Russians and Bulgarians, eighteenths and quite adults, men and women - had turned to our organization... With their help we carry out information and educational work among sex-minorities. We try, although not every time successfully, to solve the problem of social and moral taboo toward homo- and bisexuals, lesbians and transvestites, try to overcome the problem of isolation and self- isolation.»
In 1993-1994 the centre cooperated actively with the city's AntiAIDS Centre and carried out two conferences dedicated to problems of sexual minorities and preventive measures for AIDS and venereal diseases. Nevertheless, since then "energetic activity has been suspended."
There were also attempts of gays to organize their leisure. For instance, in 1994 about 30 people from all Ukraine came together in Kanev, Cherkassy Region, and excellently spent 7 days in rented resthouse at river Dnieper. An initiator and organizer of this event was Cherkassy Acquaintance Service.
In 1993 in Ternopol guys organized a club named Organization "Airis", carried on yearly meetings. In the beginning an initiator and sponsor was some Canadian woman of Ukrainian origin, from time to time visited our country. After she finally departed, the guys still went on meeting till 1996, got up a subscription, rented banquet hall in cafe. As written by one of participants, "On the whole I have warm memory on that time."
Unfortunately those who made bold to take the initiative and engage in any activity frequently received lots of reproaches, groundless reprimands and offences, including those for making a profit out of other gays' problems and at their expense. And really, sometimes it have took and still take place.
What they write to us from Vinnitsa:
«Under cover of loud names, people, who are in fact low and vile, used people's unsettled state, loneliness, and unprotectability for quite certain purposes - profit as well as for expanding their own circle of sexual acquaintance, so on.»
Nevertheless, in most cases people, who took the initiative, discharge their obligations before others conscientiously, often totally gratis, driven by wish to help others to settle their lives. Also as regards the material problems, it is necessary to remember - each affair needs reward and not only moral.
Because the activity often was carried on by only person, it could suddenly ceased for various reasons.
There had been a free acquaintance service For Men Only (P.O. Box 7717) but along with departure of its head everything was disintegrated.
From a letter:
«About two years back two guys from Odessa had decided to create club for sexual minorities - i heard it then on local TV. I phoned up offered number and was explained that a leader, who is taking up these problems, at that moment left to Moscow to adopt experience of gay clubs' work, etc.
There passed some more time and all those fine attempts to establish something here in Odessa have been left only in dreams...»
Despite that most of self-declared "clubs", "acquaintance services", etc. are lone persons that often has no any group behind, yet they play some interconnecting role in gay community; information, links, contacts pass through and get across them. So, although this activity has amateurish character, nevertheless it is in benefit to common cause.
Following this postulate we publish in the ads section information, frequently having no possibility to check it up, make sure of real existence of "organizations" and honesty of persons from some or another address.
Nevertheless there are officially registered gay and antiAIDS organizations in Ukraine. In the second number we told in detail about Ganimed. Unfortunately it has not been possible as it was supposed in 1993 to establish this organization as all-Ukrainian, yet some groups still considered themselves as its branches (not being registered officially until now).
Though today's Kiev Ganimed is still existing we do not come across any mentioning of its activity. The same fate is for another official organization LiGA.
From a letter:
«Nikolaev Association for gays, lesbians and bisexuals began its work with organizing of Club for interests consisting of Clubs for Direct and By Letter acquaintance, Creative group consisting of poets, poetesses and artists.
In the beginning the city's authorities refused to recognize the right of the organization to exist but finally "Nikolaev Assotiation LiGA was registered by Nikolaev City Executive Committee 26.XII.96.
Main goals of the Association:
In the same year there was organized consulting room of psychological help for persons with non-traditional sexual orientation as well as their relatives.
There goes on forming the library of gay and lesbian literature. There carries out antiAIDS work, the Assotiation cooperates particularly with doctors from the Fund "Blagodiynist" (Charity) and the Centre for fight and preventive measures against AIDS "Chas Zhyttya" (Hour of Life). There are some projects and plans for the future. Yet in 1997 the Assotiation suspended its work - as writes the Chairperson of the organization Victoria Amanova "because of gays' obvious inactivity."
What does in fact stir to activity gay life?
Answering this question it is necessary to mention visiting foreigner gays. Trying to arrange their private world and bring it to habitual western standards, such people were centres of new group's forming and interaction between already existing ones in a certain city.
There worked two British gays in 1996 in Lugansk. One of them was glad to grant his apartment for meetings of a quite large circle of people that initiated new contacts, links.
Recent similar example we have seen in Donetsk. A foreigner, worked there in the last year, express his wish in such way: "If there aren't gay clubs, bars in Donetsk, we'll set it up in my apartment."
Moreover, frequently foreigners not only brought a part of their culture, unknown infornation, but even in fact helped materially to formation of gay groups. Such examples are in Kiev, Zaporozhye and other cities.
Since individual people take part in our movement, it is extremely inportant the role of "human factor". There reveal themseves human, often unkind, features: envy, shrewishness, lie, etc.
For example, there was for a long time the correspondence between Lilia Taranenko (the leader of Kiev Ganimed) and Mariupol, in order to ascertain who is right, who is wrong in this, in fact matterless, dispute.
It is sad yet necessary to admit the fact that recently gay circles show their activity only in cases of appearance of unordinary, most often scandalous, situations or moments connecting to offence against the law.
Unfortunately, the magazine Our World unwittingly has poured oil on the flames of long-time opposition among groups and individuals in Zaporozhye by publication in the 4th number the article "Meet - gays of Zaporozhye" by the author under pseudonym Illya Seversky.
The passage from a letter of Zaporozhye Regional Centre for sex-minorities to the editor:
«The article has disappointed us by preconceived and incorrect using of that called floridly "women's radio" and bluntly speaking - rumours. The publication consists of 40 percents of reliable information, 15 - of verisimilar fabrication, 30 - of the author's spite against people, to put it mildly, unsympathetic for I. Seversky, and 5 percents of obvious lie.»
Talking to various people, we have found out that the publication provoked rather boisterous reaction in Zaporozhye. A painful prick proved to be initiative and entailed discussions, breaking off groups, etc.
In the magazine's reply there was said:
«We always aimed at that gay movement in Ukraine was widespread, diverse, but never torn apart by internal "wars". We have much more external "enemies" than inner contradictions. Hence, we can and have to, even not to join hands, at least not to bite through each other's throats.»
On the article:
«As it was said in the editor's foreword, we published that infromation not as the story about a certain city, but as some view on all our reality. It is its reflection, generalization. We are sure, at least being based on our knowledge of Lugansk gay world, that described in the article is peculiar to all our today's gay culture or subculture - as you like.
Also in Lugansk there are rich and dishonourable gays, those who spend time in the toilets (please notice, in this case we write it not to condemn but to establish a fact), good and bad, etc., and we are sure that in either interpretation such picture is typical for other large Ukrainian cities.»
The official authorities of the country do not see the existence of gay community and do not consider it as real social stratum. The attempt of our magazine to touch the questions related to gay topic in the process of the recent election campaign in the state by way of candidates and political parties' polling is obvious confirmation to that. Our addresses were ignored by both the very parties and mass media, where the results of the polling were passed to. If the authorities ever came to any contacts with representatives of sexual minorities, it was only the question of preventive maintenance against AIDS and venereal diseases amongst this group. Cooperation of gay groups and local AIDS centres in Odessa, Zaporozhye, Donetsk, etc. was based on it.
For example, the above mentioned Nikolaev assotiation LiGA was registered by the authorities only under term that it would be a subdivision of the local AIDS centre.
However it is possible to understand officials that cannot discuss important questions and cooperate with officially unregistered groups. A private person has no right to talk in the name of any group of people.
Mass media until now still pass over in silence questions touching upon a subject of homosexuality. Unfortunately, there are very rare materials about gays and lesbians, especially in the social aspect, in the problems of rights' observance, life of Ukrainian homosexuals.
Many gay groups complain of that mass media pass them by, do not let information come upon pages of the periodical press.
For instance, the editor of a Lugansk local newspaper replied to proposition to publish the interview with a gay in such a way: "The improper topic". From the other our experience we can recall the broadcast on the local FM radiostation Skyway when the program with gays has come on the air well past midnight.
The Association Ganimed in Volyn region planned last autmn to conduct a talk-show dedicated to questions of sex-minorities on the local TV but it was not allowed.
The curious press-clipping from the newspaper Besplatno Vsegda was sent us from Dnepropetrovsk. There are enumerated ads that are not accepted for publishing in the paper, in particular: "with pornogaphy and relations of sexual minorities".
As another extreme we can mention a vulgar presentation of materials and as an example to cite the newspaper Bulvar. The headlines are expressive: "EL Kravchuk is gay. But I get no hard-on on him" (about popular singer), "The leader of Ukrainian communists Petr Simonenko - gay?".
Even such a serious newspaper as Den, having told about our project a year ago in No. 7 (55) in the article "Gays of Lugansk has legalized themselves and are looking for understanding", was unequal to the occasion. A brief article was accompanied by photo: two dancing guys, one of whom with naked buttock, along with caption "At the All-Ukrainian Convention of sex-minorities in Kiev".
Then we wrote in the letter to Den's editors:
«In fact, there is touched upon a quite important problem here - an image of homosexual person in the mass-consciousness. Unfortunately, average man will keep in mind association "gays - legalized themselves - naked man's butt.
We hope that from the materials of our public project "Information and education on the question of homosexuality as an aspect of democratization of the society" you will be able to see the necessity of most objective, considered, unpreconceived, and resonable coverage of all the complex of questions related to homosexuality. We would want to help all the society to understand and, with understanding, to accept its integral part.»
Commercial structures extremely seldom pay their attention to gays, not considering them as potential consumer group for their paucity. For instance, the firm that organized gay disco in Zaporozhye last autmn was not satisfied with commercial results of the action and ceased further disco's holding.
In Kharkov there lately works regularly gay club in the House of Officers. Yet for one-and-a-half-million city sole disco, held once a week, that is visited by from 30 to 60 people, cannot be considered as commercial success of gay business.
Even in the capital show business aimed to gay audience is not level. Different organizers in the various times started filling this niche but could not expand the business and keep it constantly.
Nevertheless there exists a striking example of that that business for gay audience can be very effective and profitable. This is Kiev company Velych that publishes the magazine Odyn z nas (One of Us) and recently has opened a disco for gays. Despite that the admission fee costs 15 grivnas (about $7.5) about 200 people visit it at a time. The magazine's business is good too, perhaps only facing difficulties in unwillingness of local authorities to sell the edition in the open trade and usual for today's Ukrainian business problems of nonpayments.
As the Chief Editor of magazine Odyn z nas Leonid Nefedovich said, "we has occupied an empty niche at the Ukrainian market"
. Now this edition actively move up toward Russia that is unprecedented.
If it were not a habit of gay audience to buy and read one copy of either edition by all crowd, thus not supporting the producer, gay business would be even more successful, saturating the market with various goods and services, attracting different the capital in this sphere.
Last years in different places there appeared enthusiasts that helped other people to solve many vital questions (acquaintance, information, literature). Unfortunately, because of various causes such as total inactivity of absolute majority of gays, lack of means, lack of knowledge of methods and sources of financing, legal illiteracy, this activity frequently was ineffective and ceased in the long run. Many activists made an important contribution in order to help gays to acquire their dignity, settle their lives as well as society to treat us with more tolerance. However the time, when primitive, underground methods of work were only possible is over.
Unfortunately in this moment in Ukraine there is not real force that would represent and assert interests of social group - people of homosexual orientation, unite and coordinate the life of the community.
It will hardly be anything cardinally better in the field of gay organizations in the near future. As for any other field of social activity, gay social and human-rights work needs qualified intellectual labour, knowledge of such questions as jurisprudence, lobbying of interests, fundrising, and so forth. However this sphere of activity is connected with much more difficulties than any one else - on the one hand it is homophobic society's attitude, on the other - inertness, inactivity, sometimes even counteraction on the part of general gay community.
As the results of the polling show, gays need such force that would protect their interests however the community cannot yet form such force.
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