It’s been widely reported that the Russian war against Ukraine has been particularly brutal for the country’s trans and LGBTQ+ communities.
For example, many transgender women labeled as male on their government IDs have been unable to leave Ukraine due to conscription laws that mandate that all “men” between the ages of eighteen and sixty-five serve in the military. Supply chain bottlenecks and breakdowns have also made hormone therapies difficult to access.
And then there’s the homophobia in countries bordering Ukraine: Since January 2020, for example, more than 100 municipalities in Poland have declared themselves “LGBTQ-free” zones. What’s more, teachers in Hungarian schools are barred from discussing homosexuality or trans issues in their classrooms, making it clear to would-be LGBTQ+ entrants that Hungary is neither safe nor welcoming to them.
Many Ukrainians, of course, have sought refuge in the U.S. and a number of organizations have stepped into this fray to provide material and emotional support to them. Bogdan Globa, himself a Ukrainian refugee who is now enrolled in law school, founded QUA - LGBTQ Ukrainians in America in 2018 as an online, queer-affirming legal and social support network. Since the war began, he and his colleagues have been assisting newly arrived asylum seekers and refugees from throughout the war-torn country. At first, this meant helping those arriving in the United States through Mexico, but since April 21, when President Biden launched the Uniting for Ukraine program (U4U), it has meant helping would-be asylees and potential sponsors apply for the program.
Under U4U, Ukrainians need a financial guarantor to enter the country. This person can be a relative or a stranger, a naturalized immigrant or someone born on U.S. soil, but they must be willing to file paperwork with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and stipulate that they will assume full financial responsibility for the newcomer during their two-year stay. The program does not offer a pathway to either a green card or citizenship and it is not clear if asylees will be able to remain in the United States once the two-year respite period is over.
“People are often willing to give someone a place to live for a few weeks or even a few months, but they usually can’t share their space, food, and money indefinitely.”
“The U4U program works best for people who have relatives in the U.S. who are willing and able to help them, but many Ukrainians do not know anyone in the United States who can do this,” Globa tells The Progressive. “We bring people together online to meet and talk, introducing potential patrons to potential asylees. Essentially, we are arranging meetings between complete strangers.”
Since U4U began, Globa says, QUA has matched approximately forty queer Ukrainians with sponsors in the United States. But he says the U4U program is fraught with obstacles.
“People are often willing to give someone a place to live for a few weeks or even a few months, but they usually can’t share their space, food, and money indefinitely,” no matter what they promised on the sponsorship forms, Globa adds.
But the key problem, according to Globa, is this: U4U allows newcomers to work but requires an authorization with a months-long waitlist.
“It’s crazy that the government will allow people to come into the U.S. but then make them wait for permission to take a job,” he says. “To me, it’s like the government is pushing people to commit a crime.”
Another vexing issue, Globa adds, involves access to medical care since a policy patchwork provides Medicaid to refugees and asylees in some, but not all, of the fifty states. This can be especially problematic for people who are HIV-positive or have AIDS, since gaps or delays in treatment can have negative health consequences.
Globa and QUA are not alone in their critique.
Like QUA, New York City-based RUSA LGBTQ+ has had to shift gears as the political terrain for queer Ukrainians has shifted. Violette Matevosian, the group’s national coordinator, tells The Progressive that the organization was founded in 2008 to assist the queer children of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union who had arrived in the city.
Then, in 2013, when Russia passed a law to ban “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations to minors,” they expanded beyond the Jewish community to help anyone adversely impacted by the policy. Nearly a decade later, when the war between Russia and Ukraine began, they again adapted and now aid all Ukrainians, whether LGBTQ+ or not.
Among their efforts, RUSA LGBTQ+ helps potential U4U sponsors and asylees file the necessary USCIS paperwork. “Right now, one of our members, a gay Ukrainian man with an American husband, has applied to sponsor his sister,” Matevosian says. “Another person has applied to sponsor a friend of a friend.”
The group continues to raise funds for newcomers, with donations coming from all over the country. “People want to help in any way they can,” Matevosian says. “This money helps provide necessities to asylees who at the very least need time to adjust.”
“People are sometimes frustrated,” Matevosian continues. “Recent arrivals often have a hard time opening up to us. They have seen organizations that are supposed to assist them do nothing. We’re different. Even though we’re a small group, we make decisions fast. We set up GoFundMe pages, collect supplies, and distribute money as soon as we receive it. We also help people find community.”
Their activities have included a tour of the Metropolitan Museum for one recent round of newcomers, hosting a picnic Central Park, and organizing a fundraising event that raised $13,000 for asylees.
Still, like Globa, Matevosian says that the wait for work authorization documents remains an enormous roadblock to acclimation.
“Ukrainians are very connected to their home country; they are loyal to it and they want to go back if and when they can,” Matevosian says. Still, in the short-term the population has immediate needs—including schooling, housing, and healthcare. “Ukrainian asylees and refugees want to work,” they explain. “They want to do things for themselves and their families.”