Yesterday, on the night of the California statewide special election, polls closed at 8 pm for the vote on Proposition 50, the “Election Rigging Response Act.” The measure was created to combat Texas lawmakers’ plans to redraw their state’s congressional districts ahead of the November 3rd, 2026, midterm elections in order to secure more Republican seats in Congress.

A “yes” vote on Prop 50 would allow California to temporarily redraw its own congressional district maps beginning in 2026, according to the California Voter Information Guide. Since August, Democratic organizers and leaders have been advocating for the passage of the measure as a way to stand up to “cheating” that has been committed by other states.

Last night, over 8 million ballots were counted, and an overwhelming 63.8% of these were votes in favor of Prop 50. In Los Angeles County alone, nearly 2 million ballots were submitted, and 73% of voters sided with passing the measure.

Governor Gavin Newsom celebrated the victory as an act of resistance. “Instead of agonizing over the state of our nation, we organized in an unprecedented way,” he said, in a series of video statements posted online. “We stood tall and we stood firm in response to Donald Trump’s recklessness. And tonight, after poking the bear, this bear roared — with an unprecedented turnout in a special election with an extraordinary result.”

The results have also fueled impassioned LGBTQ+ leaders to keep the fight going, especially as federal legislation continues to put queer and trans communities at risk. “Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans have systematically targeted LGBTQ+ rights, rolling back nondiscrimination protections, erasing our history, and attacking transgender kids and their families,” said Tony Hoang, director of LGBTQ+ civil rights organization Equality California, in a press release. “With the passage of Proposition 50, Californians have sent a clear message: our votes will not be silenced, our voices will not be ignored, and our rights will not be rolled back during a rigged midterm election.” 

Advocates have also stressed that Prop 50 sets a precedent in creating more ground in the ongoing battle for increased rights and protections for queer communities. “Tonight’s victory is critical in the fight to secure a pro-equality majority in Congress,” said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, another notable LGBTQ+ civil rights group. “This is a victory powered by communities that refuse to be silenced and are unwavering in their commitment to defending democracy.”

Former Vice President Dick Cheney died of complications from pneumonia and cardio and vascular disease, according to a family statement released Tuesday morning. He was 84. 

Cheney served as vice president under President George W. Bush for eight years and previously as defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush. He also served as a House member from Wyoming and as White House chief of staff for President Gerald Ford. 

“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing,” his family said in a statement. “We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”

Cheney had a complicated history on LGBTQ+ issues; he and wife Lynne had two daughters, Liz Cheney and Mary Cheney, who’s a lesbian. Mary Cheney was criticized by LGBTQ+ advocates for not joining the fight against President George W. Bush’s push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. She later resumed support for LGBTQ+ issues in 2009, including same-sex marriage, after her father left office in 2009. She married her partner since 1992, Heather Poe, in 2012.

In 2010, after leaving office, Cheney predicted “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would “be changed” and expressed support for reconsideration of the law banning open military service.

In 2013, the Cheney family’s disagreements over marriage equality spilled into the public eye after Liz Cheney announced her opposition to same-sex couples legally marrying. Mary Cheney took to Facebook to rebuke her sister: “Liz – this isn’t just an issue on which we disagree – you’re just wrong – and on the wrong side of history.” Dick and Lynne Cheney were supporters of marriage equality by 2013. Liz Cheney eventually came around years later.

Cheney, a neo-con, was often criticized for his handling of the Iraq war. He was considered one of the most powerful and domineering vice presidents of the modern era. He disappeared from public life for years but re-emerged to help Liz Cheney in her House re-election bid after she clashed with President Trump. Dick Cheney assailed Trump in a campaign video and later Liz announced that her father would vote for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

On Friday night, techno pop remixes surged through a tight block on Santa Monica Boulevard, where hundreds of eager partygoers danced near a pop-up stage. Bass-heavy grooves echoed across neighboring streets as Beetlejuices, angels, and vampires swayed and thumped to the beat.

Oct. 31 marked the arrival of West Hollywood’s annual Halloween Carnaval, one of the county’s citywide celebrations — and one of the most anticipated for queer Angelenos. 

The first Halloween Carnaval was celebrated in 1987, and has since become one of the most awaited nights for local queer celebration. Drag performers donning elaborate costumes and glamorous makeup set the stage ablaze as they strutted, flipped their hair and danced to the cheers of a crowd that grew enormously as the night went on. The energy was infectious, and the Los Angeles Blade was on the scene to photograph some of these moments.

Image captures by Blade reporter Kristie Song.

Texas judges will now be permitted to refuse to officiate same-sex weddings based on their “sincerely held religious beliefs,” following a ruling issued Oct. 24 by the Texas Supreme Court.

The state’s highest court — composed entirely of Republican justices — determined that justices of the peace who decline to marry LGBTQ couples are not violating judicial impartiality rules and therefore cannot be sanctioned for doing so.

In its decision, the court approved an official comment to the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct clarifying that judges may opt out of performing weddings that conflict with their personal religious convictions. This clarification appears to directly conflict with existing provisions that prohibit judges from showing bias or prejudice toward individuals based on characteristics such as race, religion, or sexual orientation.

“It is not a violation of these canons for a judge to publicly refrain from performing a wedding ceremony based upon a sincerely held religious belief,” the court’s comment states.

The original code explicitly bars judges from showing favoritism or discrimination, declaring that they must not “manifest bias or prejudice, including but not limited to bias or prejudice based upon race, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status.”

The case traces back to McLennan County Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley, who was publicly reprimanded in 2019 after refusing to marry same-sex couples while continuing to perform ceremonies for heterosexual ones, the Texan reported.

The State Commission on Judicial Conduct found that her actions cast doubt on her ability to act impartially, but Hensley has spent the past six years challenging that reprimand in court, arguing that she was punished for adhering to her Christian beliefs.

In a statement responding to the Oct. 24 ruling, Texas House LGBTQ Caucus Chair Jessica González expressed disappointment with the decision.

“The Texas House LGBTQ Caucus is disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that the Texas Supreme Court is not willing to stand up for the rights of LGBTQIA+ Texans,” she said. “Our right to marriage should never depend on someone else’s religious beliefs. This change in the Judicial Conduct Code will only further erode civil rights in Texas.”

The Texas Supreme Court is also currently reviewing a related matter referred by the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals. That case involves another judge, Keith Umphress, who similarly refused to perform same-sex weddings for religious reasons. The 5th Circuit has asked the Texas justices to clarify whether the state’s judicial conduct code actually forbids judges from publicly declining to officiate same-sex weddings while continuing to perform ceremonies for straight couples — a question that could further define the boundaries between religious liberty and judicial impartiality in Texas.

The Trump-Vance administration is pushing to end all gender-affirming care for transgender youth, according to a new proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Texts obtained by NPR show the proposed healthcare policy changes would prohibit federal Medicaid reimbursement for medical care provided to trans patients under 18, and would also prohibit reimbursement through the Children’s Health Insurance Program for patients under 19.

Another proposal found by NPR shows the administration is considering blocking all Medicaid and Medicare funding for any services at hospitals that provide pediatric gender-affirming care.

The proposals are set to be released in early November, according to NPR’s source from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Nearly all medical associations in the U.S. support gender-affirming care for trans youth and have emphasized its importance for the mental health of trans young people.

These actions are consistent with the goals of the Trump-Vance administration. Days after being sworn into office, Trump signed an executive order stating that the U.S. “will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another.” The administration also ended a federal suicide prevention lifeline specifically for transgender youth and canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in scientific research funding related to LGBTQ people.

The anti-trans rhetoric the administration is pushing has become a major focus of its operations.

Officials have even blamed part of the government shutdown on Democrats’ support for gender-affirming care — or, as the Department of Agriculture’s website refers to it, “gender mutilation procedures.”

There are currently 27 states that ban gender-affirming care for trans youth, according to data collected by the Human Rights Campaign. This widespread push to police trans healthcare comes despite the relatively small number of trans-identifying youth, only about 724,000 individuals, or 3.3 percent of the U.S. population, according to the Willams Institute.

Many hospitals receive a large portion of their funding from Medicare, which would ultimately force them to stop providing this care in order to continue receiving federal dollars. That, Katie Keith, director of the Center for Health Policy and Law at Georgetown University, explained to NPR, would make it nearly impossible to access gender-affirming care — even at private hospitals and clinics.

“These rules would be a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s attack on access to transgender health care,” Keith said.

Ellen Kahn, senior vice president of equality programs at HRC, spoke out against the proposed policy changes, saying the decision to implement them would only hurt American families.

“This latest attempt to strip best-practice health care from trans young people would place parents and doctors in an impossible position in service of the far-right’s culture war on transgender people,” Kahn said in a statement. “Any proposed rule that would strip federal dollars from providers who dare to defy the administration’s political agenda by caring for trans youth would help no one, hurt countless families, and send a dangerous message that only the president himself — not doctors, not parents, not even you — can decide what health care you can access.”

On Oct. 1st, the previous federal budget expired, and the government entered a shutdown after being unable to reach an agreement on how different government services would be funded moving forward. Namely, democratic officials are arguing for more affordable healthcare as well as a reversal of President Trump’s cuts to Medicaid and health agencies, as proposed in H.R. 1 — otherwise known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Without a compromise that Trump will agree to, several essential federal services remain stalled.

Now, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, will be indefinitely halted beginning Nov. 1st. This affects over 1.5 million Los Angeles residents who rely on CalFresh, the state’s equivalent of SNAP. BenefitsCal, the portal Californians can use to access and manage benefits that include food assistance, announced on Oct. 27th that “the U.S. Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) is not sending money to states for November CalFresh (SNAP) benefits. This means your county cannot add money to your EBT card until federal funding is restored.”

For LGBTQ+ community members, this impact will be particularly damaging.

Over 665,000 LGBTQ+ adults live in Los Angeles County, and 32% of this population reported experiencing food insecurity from 2023 to 2024, according to data analysis completed by researchers at the Williams Institute. In comparison, 23% of non-LGBTQ+ adults reported experiencing food insecurity.

“I think it’s important to realize that many people who are on SNAP are either disabled and can’t work, or they’re caretaking for young children — and those tend to be the groups of people in the LGBTQ community,” Brad Sears, the Rand Schrader Distinguished Scholar of Law and Policy at the Williams Institute, told the Blade. “Over 60% of LGBTQ people on SNAP are disabled, and about 46% are raising children…There aren’t a lot of options for them in meeting their basic needs, [like] providing food for themselves and their families, besides SNAP benefits.” 

How can LGBTQ+ community members access food assistance in November?

Sears pointed out how, in times of social struggle, queer communities have turned to each other for support. He states that it is important, now more than ever, for local organizations and food distribution programs to stand in solidarity with LGBTQ+ people — many of whom face barriers to seeking resources due to various factors like the fear of discrimination. “This is an important time to send that message that they are inclusive, that their services are inclusive, and that everyone, including LGBTQ people, are welcome to access their resources,” Sears told the Blade.

The Hollywood Food Coalition is one of these spaces. The organization rescues and redistributes food through a community exchange program, and also provides hundreds of dinners to community members every day of the year. “We are open to anyone hungry. We’re proud to serve many LGBTQ+ guests and to offer a welcoming space where everyone can share a meal and feel safe, seen, and cared for,” Linda Pianigiani, the organization’s interim director of development, told the Blade.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center is also partnering with food justice organization Seeds of Hope to provide more free farmers’ markets this upcoming month. For Giovanna Fischer, the Center’s chief equity officer, this is an opportunity to champion intersectional queer empowerment in the midst of the administration’s actions. For marginalized community members, including those who are trans, disabled, or immigrants, organizers are thinking about multidimensional approaches as they support community members through crises like the indefinite end to SNAP benefits.

“Now we’re looking at an issue [that can be] compounded three times simply because of who that person is and the experience that they have in their life,” Fischer told the Blade. “There’s no single-issue analysis of anything that’s coming up for our community, because we’re not living single-issue lives…How are we thinking through things in a layered way to ensure that people with these intersectional identities have access to the things that they need?” 

How is the state and county responding?

On Tuesday, Governor Newsom announced that California is joining 20 other states in suing the administration for its “unlawful refusal” to continue funding SNAP. Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath also stated in a press release that the county is working to fund a $10 million contract with the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to expand food purchasing capabilities and create more food assistance pop-up sites and community pantry locations. 

L.A. Care Health Plan is also investing up to $5.4 million to fund countywide food security and distribution efforts, as well as provide aid to nonprofit organizations that distribute fresh produce.

The limitations we’re facing

While these efforts are instrumental in delivering necessary food aid in SNAP’s absence, Sears is worried about the long-term strain the suspension of federal food assistance will have on LGBTQ+ communities and the organizations trying to support them. “A number of state and local governments are going to try to temporarily fill the gap, but…the resources to do that will likely be overwhelmed without SNAP benefits,” Sears told the Blade. “Nonprofit organizations are already feeling the pressure of funding cuts from the Trump administration.” 

Pilar Buelna, chief operations officer of the Hollywood Food Coalition, is seeing this pressure in real time. She notes that the increase in the need for local food assistance has been growing since the summer, and will only continue to grow with the quickly-approaching end to SNAP benefits. “Yesterday, actually, we ran out of food,” Buelna told the Blade, after the coalition gave out 300 meals but were still met with individuals in need of food. “We are concerned that the need is going to increase so much that we’re not going to be able to keep up…We are sending out a call to action to the community to donate food and funding. We need [these] to continue our operations.” 

The Blade will be shadowing various food distribution programs and efforts throughout November to track the impact of the end of SNAP on queer Angelinos, and the community-led efforts being organized to support them.

Early yesterday morning, on National Intersex Awareness Day, West Hollywood mayor Chelsea Byers, Vice Mayor John Heilman, as well as councilmembers Danny Hang and John M. Erickson gathered to install and raise two new intersex pride flags. They fly side by side with the American flag, upholding the City of West Hollywood’s vision of solidarity between national pride and LGBTQ+ visibility. 

“We are facing unprecedented attacks on our community. It is important that we recognize the entirety of the LGBTQI+ community,” Vice Mayor John Heilman wrote to the Blade. “Intersex people have long been ignored and their issues disregarded. Raising the intersex flag also raises awareness about the challenges many intersex people face.” 

Intersex people are born with naturally occurring variations in reproductive and sexual anatomy that don’t fit into binary “male” or “female” categorizations. As Planned Parenthood details, this can look like having both ovarian and testicular tissues or having combinations of chromosomes that aren’t “male” or “female,” just to name a few. According to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, one of the biggest issues intersex people face is non-consensual surgeries performed when they are children. These operations are considered medically unnecessary and can leave lasting physical and psychological damage on intersex youth. 

The fight for bodily autonomy and intersex visibility was the main reason behind the first action organized by intersex advocates and trans allies on Oct. 26th, 1996. Protestors stood outside the Boston Convention Centre, passed out leaflets, and spoke with clinicians, nurses, and other medical professionals attending the annual American Academy of Pediatrics conference.

One of the main leaders behind this movement was Morgan Holmes, an intersex woman who had experienced a violating medical procedure meant to “correct” her anatomy. In May of 1996, she presented testimony in a room adjacent to a symposium on genital surgery for intersex infants, a conference she and other members of her advocacy group had been rejected from. 

“What I am saying is that my medical ‘care-givers’ failed to respect my autonomy or my intelligence when they assumed that because I was a child, they could do whatever they wanted as long as my father provided his consent,” Holmes said. “And when I began to balk, instead of questioning their own treatment of me, they blamed my body, and they cut it up.” 

Today, intersex people and their stories are more broadly recognized, but still struggle to reach mainstream audiences when it comes to discussions around LGBTQ+ identity. West Hollywood city officials see this addition of intersex pride flags as a step forward. “Updating our city’s flags was my item because visibility matters,” councilmember John M. Erickson wrote to the Blade. “Intersex people have always been part of our story, and it’s time that their history, identity, and pride are recognized in the public spaces that belong to all of us.”

On Friday, Oct. 17th, West Hollywood gay bar The Abbey found itself in the center of a social media storm as clips were shared depicting the presumed presence of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. In a video posted on Oct. 18th by Charles Hernandez, who often creates content around gay nightlife in Los Angeles, several people are seen standing in a line as they are apprehended and handcuffed by officers wearing sheriff’s vests and tees. Hernandez noted that, while dressed in varying attire with the word “sheriff” on it, none of the officers were willing to identify themselves or present their badges upon request. 

Hernandez can be heard asking the officers about the cause for arrest, to which one responded: “I don’t have to tell you our cause.” The video creator also questioned another officer, who can be seen wearing a gaiter to cover his face. “Isn’t it illegal to wear a mask in California?” Hernandez asked. “He has COVID,” an officer replied. In September, Governor Newsom signed five bills that weakened federal agents’ abilities to access school sites and health facilities, and prohibited them from hiding their identities. More specifically, SB 627 requires all California law enforcement agencies to create written policies limiting their officers’ use of facial coverings by July 1, 2026. 

As this video circulated around the web, the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station released an online statement of their own, denying allegations that the officers present were federal immigration officers. The station also claimed that the night’s events were a result of an “undercover operation” that was conducted in response to reports made about pickpocketing and the transportation, use, and sale of illegal substances. “Several arrests were made,” the statement read. “ICE was not involved.”

Still, residents remained unconvinced, criticizing the station’s lack of transparency, careful conduct, and accountability. Over 50 people took to the comments of this statement to voice their discontent. “[It] was not that long ago when officers would raid LGBTQ spaces and arrest people simply for being there,” one comment read. “A raid such as this does not inspire feelings of safety for our community. Especially in times when people are being kidnapped off the street by masked federal agents. There simply must be a better response to pickpockets and “other criminal activity” than undercover raids by masked officers and transporting detainees in unmarked vehicles. DO BETTER.” 

Two days later, at the West Hollywood city council meeting, West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station Captain Fanny Lapkin took to the podium to address some of these concerns. Echoing the station’s Instagram statement, Lapkin confirmed that the “pre-planned operation” was created in response to “concerns from our businesses and our community in regards to the pickpocketing, to the narcotics, and also to the illegal vending and some of the criminal activity during illegal vending.” Lapkin also confirmed that no federal agents were present, stating that everyone who took part in the operation was “sheriff’s department personnel.” And because the arrests were made as part of a planned operation, Lapkin further stated that warrants were not “necessary.” 

The events were discussed with brevity at the meeting, but community ire has not been dispelled. Several people continue to question the ethics of this undercover operation: Why were the individuals being arrested not clearly told the reason for their detainment? Why were unmarked vehicles present? Why conduct the operation in this way, as Los Angeles neighborhoods continue to stay on high alert over immigration raids? These questions remain unanswered as more specifics about the operation have yet to be released.

(Editor’s note: The International Women’s Media Foundation’s Women on the Ground: Reporting from Ukraine’s Unseen Frontlines Initiative in partnership with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation funded this reporting.)

Thirty-one-year-old Timur Levchuk was hurrying downstairs, away from the stuffy courtroom, packed with reporters, members of far-right groups and LGBTQ activists. The court hearing sounded like a duel between ideologies. The word “family” was the target — his family. Levchuk’s opponents from the conservative group Vsi Razom or All Together, initiated the court hearing to dissolve his marriage. He was trying to hold back his emotions.

The war has been breathing death, ruining lives across his country for nearly four years. At any moment, a missile or drone could hit his home. Under martial law, the border was closed for men of Levchuk’s age. He had not been able to move together with his partner, a Ukrainian diplomat, Zoryan Kis, who is posted on a mission abroad. Almost every night, he awakes to air alerts, to Russia’s attacks. And now aggressive right-wing activists were attacking his marriage, his right to be happy, to have a future. 

As soon as Levchuk stepped outside, he saw a crowd of his friends from the LGBTQ community cheering and jumping with joy, holding colorful banners in their hands: “Our family is real!” and “Family is above the stereotypes!” Overwhelmed with emotions, Levchuk broke into tears. His partner of 13 years, Kis, quickly walked up to him. They hugged, as their friends cheered the first legal gay marriage victory in Ukraine.

Levchuk’s face was wet, he was crying. The partners see one another just twice a year; but this fight for their official marriage went on and on, it meant a chance to live together.

“Zorian had to travel from Israel for this hearing today, for just one day, and half of our day was stolen from us by this conservative group, which acts just like Russian homophobes,” Kis told the Blade. 

Tears continued to run down his face.

“We hear that our opponents from Vsi Razom, the group fighting the court decision recognizing our marriage, is supported by the U.S. fundamental Christian groups. This is shocking. We are attacked on the money from what used to be the world’s best democracy,” Levchuk told the Blade. 

A group of right-wing supporters waited by the entrance to the court, too, with a few policemen in between, watching out for any signs of violence, in a country with enough of it already.

“This decision, this process of legalizing my marriage took me so much time, so much effort,” Levchuk continued. “I knew it would be painful. Our opponents, Vsi Razom activists and their leader, Ruslan Kukharchuk, claim they feel offended by the court decision. But it is our feelings and our rights that are being hurt.” 

The appealing side, a middle-aged man, Kukharchuk, has been fighting against LGBTQ for more than 20 years. On Sept. 21, 2003, Kukharchuk and his group, called Love is Against Homosexuals, protested on Kyiv’s central square of Maidan with banners that said “Homosexualism is the enemy of family!” “Single sex love does not exist!”, and “You cannot be born gay, you can become gay.” Kukharchuk has been leading dozens of protests against LGBTQ rights. The Ukrainian Parliament voted for a new law criminalizing any reference to homosexuality in the media or public domain in 2012. 

Before the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, the absolute majority of Ukrainians, up to 95 percent, did not support the idea of same-sex marriages, according to a social study conducted by GfK Ukraine, a social and market research group. But the revolution, the war in the east and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has dramatically changed the public view on the rights of minorities. Last year, more than 70 percent of Ukrainians said that LGBTQ people should have the same rights as everybody else, according to a survey by the International Institute of Sociology in Kyiv. 

But Kukharchuk has not given up.

A fluent English speaker, he talks as if addressing President Donald Trump, encouraging America, too, to rise against LGBTQ rights.

“The U.S. government should not repeat the same mistake: not having the right actions behind the right beliefs,” he says on the Evangelical Focus, an outlet that describes its mission as “helping build bridges between evangelical churches and all of society.” He continues to trumpet his cause: “Ukraine unlike many European countries is the country where LGBT flags are still not flown on government buildings, where people are not fined for praying.” 

Levchuk and Kis are not against Christian believers. They believe in Ukraine’s tolerance and respect for the rights of minorities. It’s been a thorny and long path for the two longtime LGBTQ activists. To test their hometown of Kyiv for homophobia, the two in 2015 on a summer day strolled around the city center, holding each other’s hands. Their friends were filming public reaction to the gay couple’s open walk. It seemed peaceful, at first. Pedestrians stared but did not insult the couple until the two sat down on a bench on the central street of Khreshchatyk. Three men attacked them, kicking Levchuk and Kiss, and spraying them with tear gas. The video of the violent attack went viral. 

Levchuk and Kis waited for Ukraine to grow more tolerant for years. Kyiv rejected their marriage in 2021, “due to the fact that according to the legislation of Ukraine, the concept of marriage is defined as a family union of a woman and a man.” Last year, Kis was appointed to work in the Ukrainian embassy in Israel; and since all diplomatic families had a right to live together on diplomatic missions, he began to fight in court for his spouse’s right to travel abroad. Men are prohibited from traveling abroad under martial law rules intended to prevent draft dodging. Last year, Kyiv’s court decided to “refuse the proceedings.” But on July 10 this year, Kyiv’s district court recognized the fact of a “one-sex couple of spouses,” giving the couple a legal right to a marriage. That was a first in Ukraine’s history. 

That decision was “unacceptable” to Kukharchuk and the Vsi Razom group; they appealed the court decision. When asked what brought him to the Kyiv Court of Appeal on Sept. 10, Kukharchuk said: “We absolutely believe that the Constitution is on our side. It very firmly underlines and emphasizes the definition of marriage — it can only be a union between one man and one woman, so our position in court is very clear.” 

To the great joy of all Ukrainian LGBTQ couples, Kyiv’s appeal court confirmed the fact of the two men living in “a family” on Sept. 10. It recognized their marriage. But the victory felt bittersweet. The powers behind their opponents were in the United States, the spouses told the Blade.

“We hear that our opponents from the conservative Vsi Razom group, receive financing from the Christian groups in the U.S.,” Levchuk told the Blade. “It’s hard to comprehend that our right to be happy is being questioned in the country of the best democracy in the world, the United States.” 

But Kukharchuk lost the case, at least this time.

“We realize that our fight is not over. It’s hard and it takes forever. Our opponents will surely take the decision to the Supreme Court now,” Kis told the Blade. 

(Editor’s note: The International Women’s Media Foundation’s Women on the Ground: Reporting from Ukraine’s Unseen Frontlines Initiative in partnership with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation funded this reporting. This report is exclusive to the Blade.)

Ukraine’s LGBTQ war heroes have a chance to build a community and share their courage.

Despite Russian drones raining down on the capital, Kyiv’s gay military and veteran community gathers in a freshly redecorated safe space called “K-41.” The club has been a boiling pot this summer — Ukrainian, German, Dutch, and Portuguese DJs played music on warm September nights, guests gathered to dance, listen to lectures, or see a movie in the leafy garden outside. 

One of the recent lectures was on “Practices for Non-Discrimination for LGBTQ people in the Workplace.” For many community members, the workplace is now the front, where they continue to fight and defend their country from Russian troops attacking Ukraine’s eastern, northern, and southern regions. And on rejoining the community for a break, veterans take up a different fight, for their human rights, against discrimination. Their fight does not stop on the front lines.

The number of LGBTQ heroes is growing; so is the number of fallen, sadly. There is a wall at the center covered in soldiers’ patches.

“Soldiers and veterans pop in and stick their insignias to this wall — we have welcomed more than 700 members into our LGBTQ veteran and military club,” one of the center’s founders, 38-year-old veteran, Victor Pylypenko, told the Blade with pride. Openly gay, he volunteered and fought for his country from 2014-2016 and then again from 2022-2024.

Giving us a tour of the club on a recent night, Pylypenko pointed out a portrait on the wall of another war hero, the newly elected leader of the “Ukrainian LGBT Military Personnel and Veterans for Equal Rights” NGO, Oleksandr Demenko. He is a survivor of the hellish battle for Mariupol and 20 months of horrific imprisonment in Russia.

“I always eat all the edges of the pizza, because I know that my brothers in arms do not have enough food or enough water in jail right now,” Demenko wrote, sharing his emotions recently with his Facebook readers.

A decorated officer, Demenko was among about 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers defending Azov Steel, a giant Soviet-era steel plant that was surrounded during the battle for the city of Mariupol from February to May, 2022. 

Thanks to the British photographer Jesse Glazzard, who followed the lives of Ukrainian gay soldiers, Elton John helped Ukraine’s queer heroes.

“Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, bought a photograph by Glazzard in May and gave funds for our reconstruction of this center,” Pylypenko told the Blade. “We fixed the two rooms of the space nicely, bought furniture and the movie screen for our LGBTQ veterans — the biggest community for a military in Eastern Europe.”

Demenko and his boyfriend recently became engaged, and the fight for the legalization of gay marriage became personal. Both Pylypenko and Demenko came to Kyiv’s Court of Appeals last month to support the first legal marriage.

“Every gay couple in our country hopes for President Zelensky to allow us to marry. This is our human right, along with every citizen,” the decorated veteran Demenko said in a recent interview. 

To most members of this community, the war started in 2014 with Russia annexing the Crimean Peninsula. As many self-defense volunteers, Pylypenko, joined to defend his country in the Eastern regions of Ukraine. He served for nearly two years. There was too much homophobia at the time, so he stayed in the closet during his service. On coming home to Kyiv, Pylypenko tried to reconstruct his peaceful life, went to university and finished a master’s program in technical and scientific translation from English and French. 

But the conflict with Russia did not stop; it escalated to Russia’s full-scale invasion early on the morning of Feb. 24, 2022. Pylypenko was visiting his parents in the town of Borodianka, a suburb north of Kyiv. Russian shelling blew up and burned buildings in Borodianka, killing hundreds of civilians. 

Without thinking twice, Pylypenko volunteered to defend his country again, this time openly gay.

“At some point, I took out my cell phone with rainbow stickers from K-41 club; and my sergeant asked me if I was gay in front of everybody. I answered yes. The commander, who was only 22 years old, did not have any problems with that,” Pylypenko said. 

During the battle for Kyiv, his platoon was defending the capital from the trenches on freezing cold days and nights, and saved lives of their wounded brothers in arms by evacuating them to hospitals. Pylypenko’s military experience was useful. And after Kyiv, he fought in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions. Some campaigns turned out “disastrous,” he said. 

Last year, Pylypenko had to resign to take care of his father, who was “like a baby after a stroke.” The law allowed that. Shortly after his return from the front, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church honored him for “Courage and Love for Ukraine.”

“I thanked the church and Patriarch Filaret, previously famous for stating that gays had created COVID-19. I expressed my hopes that the priest would reject his homophobia; but immediately, the same day he cancelled his medal to me,” Pylypenko said. “Immediately, a flash mob began, soldiers who had previously received that same medal denounced it in solidarity with me. The soldiers’ brotherhood is great.” 

The battle for survival during the war is tiring. The battle for human rights in the war-torn country is exhausting. The LGBTQ community is vibrant, active and well-organized in Ukraine. Its activists across the country fight for human rights, judicial reform and against corruption together with prominent civil liberties groups. Olena Shevchenko, 42-year-old leader of Insight, a group focusing on LGBTQ and feminist activism, says there is no time to live: “I have no life. I have a constant fight.” 

The Insight community center is a cozy house in the hipster part of Kyiv’s old town, Podil. For nearly four years, Insight activists have been providing aid, legal support and shelter for their community, organizing art exhibits and taking part in anti-corruption and pro-democracy campaigns.

“Three days ago, homophobes attacked our center in Lviv and before that our center in Ivano-Frankivsk; some thugs stormed our exhibition in the city of Chernovtsy,” Shevchenko told the Blade. “They come again and again, break windows, spray walls with paint that imitates blood. Their goal is to block our events. They spray tear gas, terrify our activists.” 

Shevchenko said that the attacks on the LGBTQ centers around the country are organized by far-right groups.

“One group is called Carpathian Sich, another Brotherhood, led by Dmytro Korchinsky and various new groups and networks frequently launched, like Tradition and Order,” she said. “We noticed that they received some amount of money about a year ago. They put around homophobic posters and aggressive stickers — we can tell that the money is coming to them. If before, money came from Russia, now they get funded from the U.S. as well.”

In spite of the attacks and risks, the community lives. Shevchenko, as many Ukrainians in the rear, saw her fight for human rights and against corruption as just as important as the fight on the frontline.

“If we don’t fight for democracy, who will do it? Our country would look bad if we stop. This is not just about LGBTQ, this is about freedom, democracy and the spirit that you can fight for something that is right,” she said. “Our government should be reminded about how good we are still at self-organization. We’ll be always here, this our own front. We have to keep track of democracy on all levels.”