Time chose her among the 12 women of the year for her human rights activism, and her message is very clear: to fight personally for minorities and dissidents. But who is Elena Shevchenkobrave forty-one-year-old man who through me social networks and thanks to the creation of a shelter since 2017 defends the rights of marginalized women and people LGBT?
Elena Shevchenko, Ukrainian activist
Elena Shevchenko was born in Kyiv, when today’s Ukrainian capital was still part ofSoviet Union. Coming from a modest family, at the age of nine he began training in judo and wrestling, competing through college. At fourteen, the realization that she is a lesbian, even if she waits twenty years to come out, is met with rejection by her mother. After her studies in natural sciences and a master’s degree in sociology, which she received with excellent grades, Elena began teaching at Drahomanov University and working as volunteer for women’s and LGBT rights.
In 2007 he founded Insights, a non-governmental organization created to protect the most vulnerable, which offers shelter and assistance to those who find themselves in difficult situations and marginalized. “Even today, in the 21st century,” he says, “the majority of LGBTQI+ people in Ukraine withdraw into themselves and feel isolated.. They don’t talk about themselves openly. Also because if you make yourself visible, you will certainly face discrimination and insults. And you know that you will have to face all kinds of violence, psychological, physical or economic.” open a shelter for LGBT people why in general shelters and collective spaces open to all have experienced episodes of violence, discrimination and hatred.
obviouslyAssociation he had a difficult life, in fact every year or two he had to change location and work undercover due to ostracism from the Ukrainian society that accepted the LGBT community. During Women’s March In 2017, right-wing radicals sued Shevchenko for using a trident, the symbol of Ukraine, on a poster that a paramilitary group affiliated with the Azov Regiment deemed “disrespectful.” The charge was that he violated an administrative code that requires event organizers to ensure that state symbols are not violated or presented to the public in an offensive manner. In just a few years, Elena has become “the most famous lesbian in Ukraine”: one of her most famous battles is changing the legislation aimed at sterilizing people transgender combating discrimination against marginalized groups, as well as promoting changes in the education system so that, for example, textbooks do not limit male and female roles to stereotypical areas.
There war certainly upset his business, and his shelters – one in Kyiv, the other in Lviv – became places where no one is left alone, regardless of sexual orientation and identity. When I bombardment got to her area, she had to flee to Lviv, and from there she reorganized the functions of Insight to provide assistance to women and children. 38 volunteers and operators provide psychological support; community centers organize events for children, women, and vocational courses. “We invite everyone, even just to get together and drink tea,” saysactivist. In April last year, while unloading donations from a delivery vehicle, Elena was attacked by an unidentified person. Despite the attack, this brave woman and independent continues to organize relief efforts by sending supplies around the country to ensure the women have adequate food and supplies. “The reality,” he says, “is that LGBT communities are especially vulnerable during the war: these people are severely discriminated against by fellow Ukrainians; most humanitarian aid does not take into account people with disabilities, and you do not take into account sexual harassment“In short, Olena’s battle should also show the other side of the war, the side of those who are already fighting against discrimination and who in recent years have found themselves increasingly on the sidelines of life, in increasing danger.
Source: Elle