Activists in the Ukraine are planning to run a protest rave in Kiev outside the office of the country’s president.
The rave is to raise awareness of LGBTQ+ people in Ukraine, and protest the hate crimes against them, which they claim the country’s government often turns a blind eye to.
According to news from Kyiv Post, the rave will go ahead on the 30th of July and be run by UkrainePride, which is a group in support of queer rights.
Organisers are planning to bring a sound system and stage with full DJ set up where there will be sets from people including Nastia, Katro Zauber, Gael Abakarova and many others.
Sofila Lapina is a co-founder of UkrainePride, and speaking with the Kyiv Post, she said: “Rave Pride is the real face of the queer community and the youth of Ukraine today.”
Far right movements in Ukraine often use the country’s pride marches as an opportunity to harm those from the LGBTQ+ community, so UkrainePride is trying to find different ways to advocate for queer people.
Sofila Lapina then continues: “Advocacy is any action that shines a light on the violations of a person’s rights, and UkrainePride is looking for the most diverse and most creative ways to do that”. Lapina continued.
“The word ‘rave’ comes from the word ‘noise,’ and I believe the protest needs to be noisy so that people pay attention.”
Currently, Ukrainian law means attacks against queer people are not regarded as hate crimes, which means those who commit violence towards the community often face little to no repercussions.
After being targeted with hateful abuse on social media, Sofila Lapina stated: “At Rave Pride, we are going to play loud music in the middle of the workday at the President’s Office so that the authorities can finally hear us, the same authorities who pretend that nothing is happening, that there are no hate crimes.”
H/T: Kyiv Post
