Screening "This Is Gay Propaganda: LGBT Rights & the War in Ukraine"

“This is Gay Propaganda” Screens at Leslie-Lohman Museum for Lesbian and Gay Art New Documentary Explores the Untold Story of LGBT Refugees in Ukraine While stories of migrants and refugees are currently in headlines around the world, the plight of LGBT refugees fleeing persecution has received little attention. On March 24 at 6:30PM, Join Toronto filmmaker Marusya Bociurkiw at the Leslie Lohman Museum of Lesbian & Gay Art, 26 Wooster St., for a screening of her feature-length documentary film “This is Gay Propaganda: LGBT Rights and the War in Ukraine”. The film follows the struggle for LGBT rights in the wake of the Euromaidan revolution of 2013/14. It follows Bociurkiw’s journey, travelling to three cities in Ukraine, interviewing refugees and activists, just after the Russian occupation of Crimea and parts of Eastern Ukraine. The film includes haunting interviews with LGBT people who have fled those regions, where the Russian Gay Propaganda Law is in effect. It is backed up with stunning original music by Canadian expat Rob Teehan (now living in L.A.) and Brooklyn-based musician Neysa Malone. A Q&A will follow the screening. Q&A will be led by Taras Karasiichuk, founder and former director of Gay Alliance Ukraine, who, after successive death threats, sought political asylum in the U.S. He now resides in New York, where he continues the struggle for LGBT rights in Ukraine. In the film you’ll meet several memorable characters, including Alexandra, an LGBT activist whose face was on a Wanted poster plastered across the city of Donetsk; Sergo, a Georgian activist facing violence from his own family; and Olena, a leader in LGBT and feminist organizing in Ukraine. “...Basically now I’m giving you an interview about LGBT stuff.... it can be considered propaganda,” says Olena, adding that if this law were in effect across Ukraine, she could be thrown in jail for up to six years. In Russian-occupied Ukraine and Crimea. AIDS organizations have been defunded and LGBT parents fear of having their children seized by authorities. Thousands of LGBT refugees have fled the regions, joining the almost two million internally displaced people in Ukraine. But this is no victim narrative. Ukraine's first generation of out LGBT activists is young, hip, and deeply engaged in the rebuilding of their country. Marusya Bociurkiw is a filmmaker, author, and associate professor of media theory in RTA School of Media at Ryerson University in Toronto She is director of The Studio for Media Activism and Critical Thought. Bociurkiw’s media works and books about sexuality, ethnicity, food, and culture have been screened and read all over the world. Her films and videos are in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada and The National Archives.