Ukrainian LGBT activist named ‘Woman of the Year’ by ‘Time’ magazine

Olena Shevchenko. Photo: glavcom.ua

Olena Shevchenko, co-founder of Insight, a Kyiv-based non-profit organisation to support women and LGBT+ people, has been named ‘Woman of the Year’ by the “Time”, reports the magazine's website.

With the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Shevchenko focused her efforts on raising funds to buy everything from first aid kits to hormones for transgender people. She stated that she faced criticism that LGBT people were not defending the country during the war, so her goal was to show that people of non-traditional sexual orientation were "very active on different fronts. Not just in the military, but in other areas as well".

This year's Time list includes 12 women from around the world who have contributed to the fight for human rights: American actresses Cate Blanchett and Angela Bassett, as well as footballer Megan Rapinoe, boxer Ramla Ali and others.

As reported, two Ukrainian gay men previously applied for marriage through the “Dia” app.

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