As previously reported by Magyar Nemzet, an LGBTQ film festival called Sunny Bunny began in Kyiv on Good Friday. The festival has required heightened security measures in the past. Before the 2023 opening, two cinemas in Kyiv were threatened with attacks and arson because they joined the program. In 2025, all Christian denominations celebrate Easter on the same day, and the timing and name of the festival provoked criticism—put mildly.
Ukraine Forcefully Pushes for Acceptance of LGBTQ
Over the past decades, many things have been forced down the throat of Ukrainian society, but eventually, people reach their limit. Most Ukrainians are tolerant toward people with non-traditional sexual orientations, but they do not take kindly to a man in a pink thong shaking his backside on Kyiv’s Khreshchatyk Street.
The Slavic image of masculinity has for centuries been that of the tough muzhik—a hardened man—and in this regard, there is little difference between the Ukrainians and Russians at war.
Both societies prefer traditional values.
Kyiv began promoting gay pride marches and LGBTQ propaganda in the country after the so-called Revolution of Dignity in 2014, a Western-backed coup. At that time, all state offices and various institutions were headed by Western-educated professionals, most of whom were supported by Soros's organizations during their studies. And the sensitization has been going on for over a decade, with varying degrees of success.
Pride Participants in Ukraine Often Attacked
The first Kyiv Pride parade was not a great success. Eight years ago, there were more police officers than participants, and the latter were continually attacked, leading to the arrest of fifty people.
The Pride event held seven years ago was not free of violence either. Despite European liberals viewing Ukraine as a land of freedom and free love, the reality is different. Rainbow-clad crowds are often attacked by Ukrainian radical, paramilitary groups—resulting in more violent incidents than in other parts of Europe.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Ukraine without a bit of staged drama. In the Eastern European country, it’s widely known that protests usually attract those who are well-paid to show up. The radicals, meanwhile, are allegedly financed by the very same Ukrainian state adored by the EU—to attack LGBTQ activists. This gives the public something to talk about and conveniently distracts from real issues. Not to mention, it allows various human rights organizations to pocket more funding from their Western partners under the pretext of protecting sexual minorities. In other words, in Ukraine, not everything is as it seems. One could say: everything is a performance. Even the president is an actor.
Radicals have often used tear gas and smoke grenades against Pride participants in Ukraine.
Even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pride was held in Kyiv. Again, police outnumbered participants, and several incidents occurred. At the time, Ukraine’s vaccination rate for holding a mass event.
Same-Sex Marriage: the Biggest Concern in a War-Torn Nation
Western discourse often frames Ukraine’s war as a fight for civil liberties, including LGBTQ rights. This is something the tens of thousands of young Ukrainian soldiers dying on the frontlines likely know little about. What is striking, however, is that while martial law bans major gatherings, celebrations, and public events, Pride parades have still been allowed. In fact, even in 2024, a Pride parade was organized in Kharkiv, a city under constant shelling. What was striking was that not a single military recruitment officer tried to conscript the marchers. In fact, to ensure the event was politically correct, LGBTQ soldiers from the frontlines also participated. At the end of the parade, attendees demanded that the state legalize same-sex marriage.
To secure financial aid from the West, the Ukrainian state does everything it can to promote diversity. Even the spokesperson for the army was, for a time, the American transgender activist, Sarah Ashton-Cirillo.
For LGBTQ soldiers, conferences are held, and colorful reports and advertisements are produced to highlight how valued they are. However, this is also part of the performance. In reality, members of sexual minorities in Ukraine are facing increasing violence.
Recently in Lviv—a stronghold of nationalists and radicals—a transgender soldier named Helen, who had been serving for three years, was nearly beaten to death when she returned home to attend her mother’s funeral. She was sitting in the city center talking to her boyfriend via video chat when a man approached and began speaking aggressively. When Helen asked him to leave, he hit her and yelled, “What, are you gay?” She felt dizzy, and the man hit her again multiple times. She managed to capture the end of the incident on video.
