Men with chevrons of Azov, Right Sector disrupt screening of This Is Gay Propaganda film in Chernivtsi town

Unknown men, who had chevrons of the Right Sector movement and the Azov battalion on their clothes, disrupted screening of This Is Gay Propaganda documentary about the events of the Revolution of Dignity and the war in the context of the LGBT community, which was to be held in Chernivtsi city on October 18.

The men, who had chevrons of the Right Sector movement and the Azov battalion on their clothes, and other unidentified masked men had entered the premises of the “Bunker” Center for Contemporary Art a few minutes before screening was to start. They stated in terms of an ultimatum that there would be no screening. The men stood in front of the projector screen, not allowing organizers approaching it, thus preventing the screening, Hromadske Radio reports.

The men also wore the rubber gloves. One of their leaders said they would not allow such screenings, adding there had been no LGBT people among Maidan activists or servicepersons. He added that if the screening organizers decided to hold another LGBT event, then “you will lie down here.”

As LGBT activist, chairwoman of the NGO “Insight” Olena Shevchenko wrote on her Facebook, the police did nothing to stop the lawlessness.

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According to the screening announcement, the author of the film is Canadian director of Ukrainian descent Marusia Botsiurkiv who made a film about LGBT during Euromaidan protests, entitled This Is Gay Propaganda.

This innovative movie traces the progress of the revolution and the Russian occupation from the point of view of LGBT Ukrainians. The film director visited three cities of Ukraine in 2014, tracking the impact of the Russian law on gay propaganda in the Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine. From painful cases of torture and exile to the stories of creative resistance, this film shows one of the planes of the conflict in Ukraine, which the world has not seen yet.