Award, TV, and Kyiv Exhibition

So much has happened for The Queer Face of War that I’m way behind on sharing the news. 

The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists announced last month that The Queer Face of War was selected for its 2026 book award. I'm grateful to all the people who trusted me with their stories, everyone who's supported the project along the way, and my colleagues for the honor. 

With Russia stepping up its attacks on Ukrainian cities, I hope this brings a little more attention to the importance of supporting Ukrainian's continued fight against Russian aggression, and to queer people facing persecution and fighting for their freedom in conflicts around the world. It will be formally presented in San Francisco in September

PBS NewsHour featured The Queer Face of War during Pride Month. Watch the segment here.

My exhibition in Kyiv, which opened at the end of May was especially meaningful to me. This was the first time several people in the book would get to see the project. We were also able to debut the full version of new interpretations of the project: a slide show designed by Marcel Wulf, and a sound installation by the Kyiv artist Alice Haspyd. (I’ll be sharing them online very soon!)

Olena Hloba, on the left here in the red dress, was one of the participants who made the trip to the Ukraïnka Gallery in central Kyiv. Olena is the founder of Tergo, a network of parents of queer children in Ukraine. She still lives in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where Russian forces executed dozens of civilians when it was occupied at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. The story in the book tells how she escaped by bicycle using a rescue plan hatched by her son, a gay activist who left Ukraine years earlier because of harassment from right-wing groups.

Oleksii Polukhin, the young activist whose picture is on the cover of the book, traveled the farthest to come to the exhibition. He’s originally from the southern city of Kherson, and I wrote about how he was detained and tortured by occupying forces for more than two months. Ukrainian forces drove the Russians out of Kherson a few months after Oleksii was released from detention, but that was not the end of his difficulties. His childhood home was destroyed by a flood unleashed when Russia bombed the Kakhovka Dam in June 2023. He is now living in Lviv, near Ukraine’s western border with Poland.

Mariia Pronina, who taught an art class at a center for LGBTQ+ teenagers before fleeing Russia’s siege of Mariupol, also came. Many of her former students were taken to Russia after their cities were occupied, and she helped dozens escape. She now lives in Kyiv. She told me she’s been spending a lot of time with two teens I wrote about in the book, Sasha and Adam, trans boys who met and fell in love in Moscow, who she helped sneak back to Ukraine. 

It was also the first opportunity I got to share the full project with two people who were essential to bringing The Queer Face of War into existence: Illia Dyadik (with me on the left), my primary translator and reporting partner, and Yevheniia Kvanevska (right), who also assisted with translations and has been leading social media and partner outreach since publication. (She’s also profiled in the book.)

I was honored that the exhibition was hosted by two organizations whose leaders have become dear friends while I was working on The Queer Face of War, LGBTQ+ Military and Insight. A portion of donations to The Queer Face of War have gone to supporting Insight’s ongoing project to deliver aid to LGBTQ+ people and women affected by the fighting. Unfortunately, LGBTQ+ Military’s founder, Viktor Pylypenko, couldn’t attend. He was preparing to return to the front lines, where he spent the first two years of the full scale invasion and much of the fighting in 2014-2015.

I was thrilled that curator Anna Vasylioglo included projects focused on LGBTQ+ soldiers by two Ukrainian photographers, Alim Yakubov and Christina Pashkina. (Christina graciously allowed me to include one of her pictures in my book. My portrait of Stanislava and Alina, an activist/soldier couple who staged a mock wedding to protest the lack of partnership rights for queer soldiers, is on the right; Christina’s photo of their protest ceremony is on the upper left. 

I’ve been back in the US since early June, but European events for The Queer Face of War continue without me. Oslo Pride devoted a room in their Pride House to display the slide show and sound version of the project this June. And the project will be on display at World Pride in Amsterdam, which opens at the end of July. (My European partner, Queere Nothilfe Ukraine, is still fundraising to support that exhibition; please donate here if you can.) 

Once I catch my breath, I’m going to turn my focus to exhibiting the work in the US. Thanks to everyone who donated to help make the European exhibitions possible!

Lester

PS Order a copy of the book or make a donation to support my ongoing efforts to share the stories of queer Ukrainians.