Trapped in a document that doesn’t yet recognize them as women. It is the “war within a war” experienced by hundreds of transgender people fleeing Ukraine.
Once they arrive at the border, they are turned back because they cannot leave the country as they have official documents in their hands, as required by martial law for all men, which came into force immediately after the Russian invasion. “We have hundreds of reports of similar cases. The only solution the LGBTQ associations in Kyiv say sadly is to go to your doctor and then go to the military office with the certificate to be removed from the list for conscription “. Difficult to explain to those who have managed to reach the border, bags in hand, perhaps after traveling for days, dodging mortar fire and explosions.
In Chelm, a few kilometers from the PolishUkrainian border, few admit to having transgender friends. The issue of gender, especially homosexuality, is still taboo for many in Ukraine. Gay rights in the country are not protected by any law and there is not much sensitivity to the issue. But there are also those on the border who are open about the issue. “Some of my friends are still in Ukraine trying to figure out how to get across the border with their passports,” says Renata, 44, who has just fled Kyiv. Similar stories and narratives also follow on social networks and on the blogs of the many associations that help the whole community. Some of them are also forced to advise them to lie, saying at the border that they lost their documents so that they can be recognized as women.
“The guards strip you and touch you all over Judis’ dramatic account in the pages of the Guardian . You can see on their faces that they are wondering, ‘What are you?’ like some animal or something.” According to some estimates by Ukrainian organizations, since the beginning of the war, hundreds of transgender people have tried to cross the border, but about 90% of them were rejected. His odyssey was also recounted in recent days by Zi Famelu, Transgender who also rose to fame for taking part in a television talent called ‘Stars Factory’ “You are in danger he said from the border via social media .
I do not know what to do. I urgently need help, because everyone here is homophobic and transphobic.” Just a few days ago, the artist announced again via Instagram that she had managed to move to “another country”. “I’m still alive,” she wrote. I went a different way. I can’t share the details but I plan to tell you what happened to me soon.
Many stories have echoed from the Ukrainian borders to Italy. The Gay Party, led by Fabrizio Marrazzo, is asking for the intervention of Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio to “also allow Italian volunteer doctors to go to the border to certify trans people and get them out of Ukraine”. A dramatic dead end that runs the risk of making new “prisoners of war”.
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