This Saturday at The Grand Social, Delicious and Dublin Pride will come together to raise funds for the LGBTQ+ community of Ukraine following Russia's invasion.

All the money will go towards supporting three LGBTQ+ charities: Kyiv Pride, Outright International and Rainbow Railroads via Dublin Pride and the European Pride Organisers Association.

Alongside DJ Ruth, who is slated to play all the dance hits at the Lower Liffey Street venue, The Autopilots will act as special guests on the night.

To book tickets for just €7/€10, click here.

The 3 charities we are supporting via @DublinPride and @EuroPride are @KyivPride @OutRightIntl @RainbowRailroad ..

Tickets : https://t.co/1HwQP0RUvk pic.twitter.com/01cGYx0kWS

— Buzz O'Neill-Maxwell (@buzzoneill) March 2, 2022

Ukraine’s own history of sexual and gender minorities has been far from a smooth march towards equality. ILGA ranks Ukraine 39th of 49 European states for LGBTQ+ rights and highlights ongoing pervasive discrimination within media, education and public discourse.

Nevertheless, an undoubted sense of progression has been achieved over the past decade, influenced partially by its desire to be considered for EU membership. This has seen anti-discrimination laws including sexual orientation, which were passed in 2015, and transition processes for transgender Ukrainians becoming simpler the following year.

Pride marches across the country which have grown in number year-on-year to reach 7,000 for Kyiv Pride 2021. All this has served to create a greater visibility of queer Ukrainians - a precursor for a broader acceptance.

President Zelensky, fast-emerging as a global hero, for his calm leadership in the face of unparalleled aggression, has been clear in including sexual and gender minorities in his vision for an open and tolerant Ukraine – as he showed in 2019 when shutting down a homophobic heckler at a press conference:

“Regarding LGBT: I don’t want to say anything negative because we all live in an open society where each one can choose the language they speak, their ethnicity and sexual orientation. Leave those people finally at peace, for God’s sake!"

Queer Ukrainians are well aware that these hard-won freedoms are at grave risk under potential Russian occupation. Many are fighting on the front or enlisting across the country to defend not only their existing freedoms but their right to exist in their own identities.

The well-known persecution against sexual and gender minorities within Russia’s own borders following the enactment of its odious ‘gay propaganda’ law in 2013 has extended to Ukrainian territories under occupation, where sexual and gender minorities speak of an ‘imposed trend of homophobia’ including physical attack, closure of (relatively) safe queer spaces, forced conversion therapy (UNHCR 2017) and even direct death threats, as quoted a minister in the so called Donetsk People’s Republic in 2016.