Please forgive the mass email, but I’m writing to share exciting news: I’ve just published my first book, The Queer Face of War: Portraits and Stories from Ukraine.
This project is the culmination of my journey as a journalist, activist, and photographer over the past 13 years. In 2012, I made the scary decision to leave my job at Politico to begin reporting on LGBTQ+ rights worldwide. When BuzzFeed News hired me as a global queer rights correspondent in 2013, my first assignment took me to Kyiv, where I wrote about how Russia was trying to scare Ukrainians away from alliances with western democracy with slogans like “Association with the EU equals same-sex marriage.”
I was back in Ukraine again in 2022, this time as a human rights researcher interviewing queer Ukrainians to learn how the Russian invasion was affecting them. I met a gay man blinded in a previous hate crime now struggling to flee the fighting. I met trans soldiers who wanted to join the fight but were pushed out by their superiors. I encountered queer teens who made a risky escape back to Ukraine after their home towns were occupied and they were taken to Russia.
These stories and dozens of others became The Queer Face of War, which is now on sale in the EU (US and UK readers will have to wait until February). Nearly every testimony is accompanied by a portrait I made after an interview—only one or two people requested their faces not be shown. I was initially floored that so many people agreed to be photographed. I’ve interviewed queer people from many war zones—Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan—but they never felt safe revealing their identities.
After a few trips to Ukraine, I realized I was building a historic collection of portraits and oral history, giving a broad look at a queer community in war. Together, they tell the story about how Putin weaponized homophobia in his crusade against democracy and how queer Ukrainians organized to defend their country and their rights. These testimonies also resonate with me as an American watching the MAGA Right target queer people as part of a broader assault on democracy.
If you’re in the EU, you can order the book now. Otherwise, you can learn more about the project at my website, TheQueerFaceOfWar.com, and I’ll be sharing more about the project, exhibitions, and events soon.
Please help me get the word out about this project by forwarding this email and sharing on socials! (I’m @jlfeder on Instagram and other platforms.)
All the best,
Lester
