Queer activists gather in NYC to support Ukraine -- Jewishly
“Queer people anywhere are responsible for queer people everywhere,” a sign read outside of the Stonewall Inn in New York City Saturday afternoon, where activists gathered outside of the historic LGBTQ+ rights landmark to express solidarity with marginalized Ukrainians as they face persecution under the invasion of Russian troops that began earlier last week.
In 1969, the Greenwich Village bar became the site of demonstrations against police brutality toward New York’s gay community, and is frequently regarded as the birthplace of the queer liberation movement. Now, New Yorkers leveraged the symbolism of Stonewall to call attention to the risks that LGBTQ+ Ukrainians face under the military operation that Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed was meant to “de-nazify” the sovereign nation led by Jewish president Volodymyr Zelensky.
During the Holocaust, between 1.2 and 1.6 million people were killed by the Nazis in Ukraine. Multiple Jewish organizations have spoken out in recent days disavowing Putin’s assertion that Ukraine is run by neo-Nazis, with Yad Vashem stating that “the propagandist discourse accompanying the current hostilities is saturated with irresponsible and completely inaccurate comparisons with Nazi ideology and actions before and after the Holocaust.”
While the event made no explicit mention of the risks facing Jewish Ukrainians during the Russian invasion, speakers framed Ukraine’s queer community as a bellwether that could hint at the future of all minority groups in the country — echoing the history of both communities in Ukraine and across Europe at-large.
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