LGBT Ukrainians find both solidarity and discrimination in Poland

Millions of Ukrainians who fled their nation’s war have received a warm welcome in Poland, finding sanctuary in people's homes and bustling refugee centers. But activists are working to extend that same hospitality to members of Ukraine’s LGBT community, who may face discrimination in the traditionally conservative Catholic country.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, over 14 million people have left their homes, with nearly 4 million arriving in Poland. Though the government and many Polish citizens have largely welcomed the refugees, activists say the LGBT community faces a higher risk of prejudice and challenges in finding housing and aid.

In response, Polish activists are renting out apartments for LGBT refugees to share and providing them with psychological support and medical assistance.

“Safe housing was the most important thing for us, especially because some LGBT people have special needs and need more privacy,” said Julia Maciocha, chairwoman of LGBT rights group Parada Równości, or Equality Parade.

Maciocha said her organization has created a website where LGBT refugees can look for support in Poland and is providing financial aid to transgender people for medications.

“In the beginning, the needs of all refugees are the same: food, clothing, safe shelter. However, for straight people, it’s easier to later find a job and housing,” she said. “Trans people who are transitioning need medications, and we have people who are taking their HIV medications as well. So we have to provide them all that they need, including psychological support.”

But one challenge that activists and organizations face is a lack of assistance from local governments. Miłosz Przepiórkowski, a board member at Lambda Warszawa — which supports people who have “experienced violence and discrimination due to their sexual or gender identity” — said his group has so far received grants from international organizations but “absolutely no support from the government.”

Although homosexuality is legal in Poland, the country has a history of documented attacks against LGBT and intersex people. Various towns and regions — amounting to almost a third of Poland — have formally declared themselves free of “LGBT ideology,” and hostile rhetoric has pushed many people to flee to Germany and other countries.

Devex spotted anti-LGBT protestors across the nation’s capital with placards saying, “We need LGBT ideology-free zones [in Warsaw].” In the city’s suburbs, anti-LGBT posters can be seen plastered on walls, and some cars are heard playing recordings of anti-LGBT slogans as they drive.

Poland is the lowest-ranked member of the European Union in a comparison of the legal rights of LGBTI people by ILGA-Europe, the European branch of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. Ukraine, meanwhile, only sits five spots higher in the group’s rankings for the wider European region.

LGBT refugees arriving in Poland from Ukraine have not seen a huge change in their treatment by society, Przepiórkowski said.

“Ukraine isn’t that far ahead” of Poland on ILGA-Europe’s list, he said. “At least here, the LGBTQI-plus refugees are safe from airstrikes, missiles, and the risk of death,” Przepiórkowski added, using the abbreviation for LGBT, queer, intersex, and other sexual or gender identities.

LGBT refugees in the country told Devex that the activism and solidarity from their Polish counterparts have given them a sense of safety.

Devex spoke to Olgha, who fled Kyiv soon after the war began. Now in Warsaw, Olgha — who chose to use only her first name to protect her privacy — said that although she still stays alert to possible danger at all times, she feels relatively safer in her new city than she did in Kyiv.

“In Ukraine, I never tried to openly show that I’m a lesbian because I know [the] majority don’t accept us,” she said. While Ukraine has become more LGBT-friendly than in the past, the war may have derailed progress, she added.

Victoria, an LGBT activist and refugee who fled Kyiv on Feb. 25, said she has not faced any “untoward incidents” since arriving.

“I saw a lot of buildings in Poland with LGBTQ flags, and this would have been dangerous in Ukraine,” she said. “I’ve met many volunteers at the borders who were all friendly to me, and that’s a relief.”