Queer African
people fleeing Ukraine are facing “intersecting violence”, campaigners have
warned.
More
than one
million people have fled Ukraine since
Russia declared war. However, not all refugees are being treated equally.
There have
been widespread
reports of racism at the border against Black people, including
African refugees, as well as other people of colour.
Ukrainian
border officials and the military have singled Black people out: pushing
them to the ends of long lines often separated by race, barring them from
boarding trains, giving them stale food and even beating them with batons.
Many have been
stopped from crossing the border. White Ukrainians, meanwhile, are let through.
“When the
Ukraine crisis unfolded and folks fled for safety, white supremacy manifested
as basic human rights were refused to refugees, we knew queer Africans would
face intersecting violence,” Faris Cuchi Gezahegn, co-founder of House of
Guramayle, told PinkNews.
A Twitter post
by the House of Guramayle further explains: “On top of their Blackness, their
queer identity will put them in grave danger since the so-called ‘safe’
countries are not queer-friendly.”
The
organisation, a community-led activist group for queer Ethiopians, is working
with Afro Rainbow Austria, which
campaigns for African LGBT+ people in Austria, to mobilise support for queer
African people who are being impacted.
“It is very
critical for us to mobilise community resources that centre queer Africans,
starting from accommodation that is hosted by queer folks at best or at least
queer allies,” Gezahegn explained.
“We want to
make funds accessible so that our queer siblings have the capacity to find
their safety in dignify way and also to mobilise safer transportation or
route.”
They
added: “The majority of them right now are in flight or fight mode which
will hinder their ability to disclose who they are and seek help.”
House of
Guramayle and Afro Rainbow Austria are asking those who can to circulate a
form for queer Africans in need of support. They are also calling on
those with the resources, such as food, shelter and legal counsel, to
make themselves known, so that they can be connected with those in need.
Many fleeing
Ukraine will seek asylum in “so-called safe countries, such as Poland, Hungary and Romania,”
Gezahegn said, but “these are not safe countries for queer folk” due to
anti-LGBT+ laws and sentiment.
Some will hide
who they are, “passing” for straight or cisgender. But not everyone has this
option. “Trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming folks are immensely in
danger,” Gezahegn stressed, “and we really emphasize the gravity of the danger
they are exposed to.”
“We are trying
our best to reach our queer siblings,” Gezahegn said, “but from
experience, so much unfortunate news will unfold.
“We are trying
to prepare to hold them with softness, tenderness, kindness, care, and the love
they deserve.”
Stas
Mishchenko, a member of the board of Kyiv Pride, told PinkNews that
in Ukraine, LGBT+ people have long concealed who they are. It’s survival, he
said, given that marriage equality, same-sex adoption and anti-discrimination
protections are non-existent.
“If this
situation had happened 10 years ago, I would have said that LGBTQI Ukrainians
flee from homophobic Ukraine to more safe Poland and Hungary,” Mishchenko said.
“Since then
the situation in our country has been improving slowly but steadily, while our
neighbours have had a conservative backlash.”
Trans
Ukrainians, in particular, have described feeling
trapped in Ukraine, with reports of trans women with incorrect gender
markers on their passports being turned away at the border.
Men and any
other person with a male gender marker on their documents aged between 18 and
60 have been banned from leaving the country, the State
Border Guard Service of Ukraine announced last week. Trans women
without accurate gender markers are left unable to cross the border and dread
conscription.
Even for those
who do manage to escape, their problems will continue.
“Access to
medicine for hormone therapy and other needs is very limited for refugees in
countries on arrival,” he said.
“In the case
of rainbow families, which are unrecognized in Ukraine, we can have a situation
where the biological ‘official’ parent dies or is injured, and the other parent
doesn’t have any possibility to stay as the kids’ guardian.
“By the papers
– they are nobody to each other.”
SOURCE:
PINK NEWS
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