However, unlike previous years this year’s flashmob was the first time held outside, in a central place in Zaporizhia. Gender Z’s supporters came out to celebrate diversity, calling for being tolerant to anyone regardless of race or ethnicity, social status, gender identity or sexual orientation, HIV status, presence or absence of disability, stating the phrase “Celebrate  Diversity” from paper letters. At the end of the Rainbow Flash-mob, participants made wishes and released multicolored balloons.

 

But despite the threat of violence and discrimination supporters this year managed to support IDAHOT with a wonderful online action. In an effort to draw attention to discrimination faced by the LGBT community campaigners from Gender Z created and shared an online video.

The video features members of the group and local LGBT community and hoped to challenge attitudes of the LGBT community, while also tackling negative stereotypes and attitudes. Watch the full video on youtube.

The video was also part of a small Rainbow Flashmob organized by campaigners in the city of Zaporzhia, which as well as drawing attention to the group, also provided a valuable outlet for LGBT young people in the area.

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Five activists broke the silence over LGBT rights in Belarus on May 17, The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHO), by handing out leaflets in support of equality and tolerance on the central streets of the nation’s capital and picketing at a US embassy over marriage equality legalization last year.

One of the participants, Aleksa Klimenka, stated that he came with his de-facto husband with whom he has lived together for seven years. The event was also officially supported by MSD-MH, a Belarusian social democratic youth organization, whose members also participated in it.

The activists were followed by six journalists and two observers from human rights organizations. Almost all of the passers that were willing to take leaflets reacted peacefully though the participants had a heated debate with an older woman who argued that “it is illogical to be gay”.

Aleksa Klimenka responded: “In 2012 my husband had to quit attending the university just before graduating because of the “ distribution” [in Belarus many university graduates are distributed for compulsory work for two years, often at remote destinations.] If he were my wife we could have been distributed together, but since we are nobodies in the eyes of the state, we could be separated for several years. He had to quit the university. As a result he has neither a higher education nor a job, and that then has become a major issue for us both”.

After handing out the leaflets three activists held a solidarity picket in front of US embassy in support of marriage equality achieved there nationwide last year. One of them stood with a rainbow flag, the second one held a placard with drawn US flag and inscription that reads “You lit the Soviet darkness for me and my husband”. The third protestor held a placard with a photo and a quote of a US federal judge John Heyburn who ruled Kentucky’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.

Both actions were not permitted by the authorities and the exact time of the latter one was not published, though immediately after protestors came to US embassy, they were surrounded by nearly ten plain-clothed men who were watching and filming the picket. Surprisingly, neither they nor any police officers approached the activists. Perhaps the presence of the journalists and human rights defenders and the added fact that on the same day the US Department of State representatives had visited Minsk to discuss democracy and human rights also helped the protestors. Though recent developments in Belarus indicate that street protestors can be later fined up to $600 without even being approached by the police, as well as up to 15 days of jail time – the latter consequence was also frequently used until last summer.

These actions in support of LGBT rights are the first ones in Belarus since 2013, when the local LGBT activists experienced crackdown from the government, some of whom fled the country to seek asylum in the West. Protestors said that the previous picket in front of US embassy in Minsk was held in 2003 but now, at the time of so-called liberalization when Belarusian government relaxed repressions in order to please the West and make it lift the sanctions, they wanted to use such an opportunity to express their opinion.
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More reports of the event, with photos:
In Russian http://news.tut.by/society/496704.html
In Belarusian http://spring96.org/be/news/83095

Rainbow Flashmob in Zaporizhia

IDAHOT in Zaporizhia, Ukraine: Everyone has the Right to happiness

 We strive for being ourselves

17 May became the perfect occasion for the local LGBT community of the city of Zaporizhia once again to demonstrate their visibility, to celebrate achieved progress in the fight against homophobia and to state out loud that in Ukraine there is a group of people who are not available to certain rights.

This year Zaporizhia LGBT organization Gender Z held in Zaporizhia its traditional campaign, which organizers call “Rainbow flashmob” because of rainbow balloon release, although the format of such rainbow event changes from year to year.

The main slogan of the 2015 IDAHOT event was “Everyone has the right to happiness”. And the idea of ​​the event was to shoot a short video on which the participants of the flashmob would draw up with their bodies different figures, symbolizing equality, and to finish the video with forming the slogan.

“The most important thing is that into this year’s event preparation and performance for the first time not only representatives of the LGBT community were involved, but also students from local universities. The fact that this year we reached out to representatives of university students gives us a lot of hope. In general the lack of allies and supporters is the hugest problem for Ukraine as it is treated more prestigious for a lot of people to support “traditional values”. And although we are still far from open support from the side of groups of allies but these are first steps in this direction” – said Rostyslav Milevskyi, director of Gender Z.

At the end of the performance participants launched into the sky colorful balloons, symbolizing the dream of the hatred and homophobia free world. And then, traditionally, it was a picnic where people could have fun in an informal atmosphere.

South of Ukraine

In the South of Ukraine, the LGBT Association ‘LiGA’, Mykolaiv, held actions on IDAHOT in Mykolaiv. Find the pictures of the event in Mykolayiv on May 16 here.

In commemoration of IDAHOT, the NASH MIR Centre in Kiev launched the paper “ON THE EDGE: Addressing Discrimination and Inequality in Ukraine”. This 180 page publication covers broad range of issues: legal framework, discrimination of various vulnerable groups, including LGBT. It is result of 2,5 year project of Nash Mir, The Equal Rights Trust (U.K.) and number of Ukrainian NGOs. Project is funded by Delegation of EC to Ukraine.

A group of a dozen people held a flash mob in Kiev for IDAHOT. 

In an interview with Hromadske, the Ukrainian Activist Olena Shevchenko talked about the situation for LGBT people in the Ukraine.

Hromadske International’s Maxim Eristavi and Sabra Ayres spoke with Olena Shevchenko on May 17, 2015.

Progress for LGBT rights in Ukraine has stagnated, Olena Shevchenko, a prominent Ukrainian LGBT activist, told Hromadske. Although the Maidan revolution mobilized Ukrainians, the LGBT community now understands that the protest movement was not about human rights and since then the community has not strengthened. “This is the biggest disappointment for the LBGT community”, said Shevchenko.

A flash mob held in Kyiv to mark International Day against Homophobia was attended by just couple of dozens of people. According to Shevchenko, the low attendance at the flash mob can be attributed to the fact that they feared prompting the event because the potential of homophobic backlash. In contrast at an IDAHOT rally in St Petersburg, Russia 350 people attended which organizers say makes it the biggest rally in Russia’s history.

The Ukrainian authorities are also adding to the lack of progress in LGBT rights, said Shevchenko, the homophobic attitudes within society extend to the highest levels. The authorities have told the LGBT community they are unable to introduce laws against hate crimes and discrimination because of the country’s “critical situation of conflict with Russia”. Shevchenko told Hromadske that in Russia activists are comparatively more galvanized because of the government’s anti-gay propaganda and discrimination laws.

Another factor adding to the stagnation of the LGBT community in Ukraine, added Shevchenko, is the lack of LGBT role models. For most people being gay is a distant concept and people are too afraid to come out publicly.

The tactic has also been popular in Germany, Ukraine, Armenia and various other countries. And, in 2013, these actions inspired the worldwide focus campaign for IDAHOT – the “Global Rainbow Flashmob” with actions in 40 countries, spanning balloon releases, dance flashmobs, rainbow kiss-ins, chalk-ins and die-ins, and many more kinds of actions in support of LGBTI rights worldwide (You can watch the video compilation of the actions here).

Because rainbow flashmob events are not usually classified by authorities as “protests”, they can provide a way for communities to meet publicly and make a visible impact, without alerting authorities to the existence of the action first. In many cases, activists organise privately and do not release the time and place of the action publicly, until after the event.

We spoke with a group of activists from Ukraine, who have been bravely organising these events since 2011, despite widespread hostility to public actions in support of LGBTI rights in their context. They told us this inspiring story, which will maybe help others thinking about organising this event, or who are also organising in hostile contexts where safety is a key concern.

Where/how did the idea originate? What were the main assumption behind the idea, the main expectations?

Participants gather to release rainbow balloons – in Zaporizhia, Ukraine. May 17, 2014.

Holding flashmobs with the release of rainbow balloons is our tradition since 2011. The format of the event was chosen based on local realities: to conduct any kind of human rights rally or activity the organizer needs to apply to the city municipality, with the exception of flashmobs, because this format is new and yet not established in any Ukrainian official documents. If we decided to apply for the action officially, then, with 100% confidence, they would have banned its conduct under any pretext. In addition, we would have also provoked a surge of homophobic activity which could affect the safety of participants. So only with the flashmob format we have a legal opportunity to join IDAHOT.

The main expectations we had were to speak out for LGBT rights regardless of the political and social situation as well as to have fun. Another expectation was to set up a tradition of celebrating the 17th of May.

What were the risks/threats/obstacles involved and how did you mitigate them?

The anti-gay movement wasn’t so well organized in our city in 2011, because we weren’t visible before. Thus, while organizing our first rainbowflash – our first event aimed at society – we knew that we would face a number of challenges, but till the end we did not know which ones exactly. A few days later after this action, after the first articles about our event were published in the media, we saw growing anti-LGBT activity. The situation worsened in the next years, together with the strengthening of the national LGBT movement, holding Pride weeks, and the increased visibility of our organization, but also with appearance of the first homophobic draft laws in the parliament etc.

A participant writes a message of hope, to tie onto the balloon.

The more we were visible, the more homophobic discourse intensified in society – created by religious fanatics and nationalists, and approved by the authorities, thereby provoking hatred, discrimination and violence against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. But at the same time we previewed some safety issues. For example, we decided not to spread publicly the place and exact time of the flashmob. Participants and journalists were invited either personally or through our friends/supporters, taking into account all of the same safety concerns. Since 2012 we already had this challenge not to allow violence as we observed, for instance, homophobic groups in social networks which organized a campaign to encourage people who were ready to use violence against the LGBT community, in cases where they detected attempts to carry out human rights meetings. Groups of aggressive hooligans were also created to patrol popular public places in our city, during the whole flashmob day.

How did you get it done? How much time did it take? How much did it cost? How many people did it involve? What were the tactics that you used?

The same idea of every year’s performance was to voice and to discuss the current situation – to write on a piece of paper our dreams and wishes, tie them to the balloons, before we let them color the sky. This part of our flashmob remained unchanged. But every year we tried to add something new.

Balloons colour the sky in Ukraine. May 17, 2014.

For example, this year we recorded a video media message. Last year we lined up in a row, composing the media inscriptions “F*ck homophobia” and “Love is stronger than hate”. In 2012 we composed the letter Z with the balloons like in Gender Z (the mark of our city of Zaporizhia). The main event (communication, wishes writing, balloon release) was always about a half an hour of duration. After this part we organized a kind of picnic for the participants. The action didn’t require significant expenses, only costs of balloons, stationery and/or banners’ printing.

This activity gathered about 20 participants every year, those people who decided to be open, visible and brave, despite of the threats.

How do you rate the impact of this action, and how did you see its effects?

Every year the IDAHOT performance raises a huge discussion in society about homosexuality, gender identity, and LGBTQI’s position in Ukrainian society. It’s the most important impact – to increase visibility. We also observe a rise in supporters of our organization, including among journalists – one of the most powerful tools of shaping public opinion.

Watch the video of their IDAHOT 2014 action here:

Ukranian LGBT activists took to the streets despite considerable social and legal challenges, and widespread political instability and distortion of human rights campaigning, and celebrated May 17 with a visit to a national wildlife island.

In the city of Zaporizhia, Ukraine, a flashmob action dedicated to the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia was held on the Khortytsia island – a national wildlife refuge, located in the heart of the city on the Dnieper River.

Rainbowflash action in Ukraine for IDAHOT 2014

Participants repeated the tradition established for rainbow flashmob events, and wrote their wishes on cards tied to balloons during the event. Before letting the balloons fly into the sky, the participating activists, using banners, created a media message in which they expressed their protest against homophobia and hate and urged media and public to “be over hatred”.

This was also a symbolic statement, since the group made a point of climbing to one of the highest points within reach of the city.

You can watch the flashmob action here:

In the final weeks of 2013, Ukrainian police started violently cracking down on pro-European and pro-democracy protests, as the government started introducing drastic new restrictions on freedoms of assembly and expression.

But on December 30, something beautiful started happening. A group of women gathered in Independence Square, armed with mirrors.

Designed to speak back to police brutality, and to ask police what they had become, the action quickly went viral around the world, with powerful images shared internationally via social media.

A new weapon in hands of protesting Ukrainians: MIRRORS #Kiev #euromaidan pic.twitter.com/bdrzKhKJ73

— #OccupyLA (@OccupyLA) January 2, 2014

The mirror protest was held at 12 noon, for 20 minutes, 30 days after police violently attacked protests led by students; a move which sparked Ukraine’s era defining EuroMaiden protests.

Whilst the action works well to hold a mirror up to police brutality, it could also be used to highlight the hypocrisy of other state institutions, or political actors – the judiciary (after a particular verdict), opposing church institutions or leaders (if they are opposing LGBTI rights), the government itself (if they’re failing to protect human rights or honour the constitution), for example.

It’s also cheap to organise, since practically everyone must have a mirror they can use at home, or could borrow from a friend.