Such programs continued unperturbed during the First Trump Administration, when a touching project meant to increase transgender visibility in Ukrainian Fashion Week was funded through USAID’s program to “Enhance Non-Governmental Actors and Grassroots Engagement” (ENGAGE) in Ukraine:
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Don’t worry, homophobes and transphobes; as long as capitalism exists, there will always be a “non-governmental organization” that will be willing to exploit the LGBTQ+ community and “sex workers” for corporate interests.
This past February, anti-war organizers had a modest gathering on the steps of the Lincoln memorial to protest against militarism. The Rage Against the War Machine rally as it was called was unique of its kind, as figures from across the political spectrum put aside ideological differences to come together to speak against empire and war. About three thousand people turned out, which is admittedly small compared to antiwar protests in the past. It wasn’t the pictures you see during the Vietnam War protests where bodies are compacted shoulder to shoulder around the entire permitter of the Capitol Reflecting Pool stretching all the way back to the Lincoln monument. Perhaps there wasn’t the same type of publicly or word of mouth enthusiasm behind anti-war events as there once was.
Republican Ohio Senator J.D. Vance accused the Biden administration of “moralizing and lecturing” other countries in a floor speech opposing a new diplomatic nominee late Wednesday.
“Right now, you know that Joe Biden is not sending weapons to Taiwan, weapons that we promised the Taiwanese, because we’re sending those weapons to Ukraine or elsewhere,” Vance said.
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Though Vance said he admires the brave people of Ukraine, he said America should remove troops and resources from Ukraine.
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“It’s time to manufacture our weapons in the United States,” the Ohioan said. “And it’s time to send a message to the world that America is the arsenal of democracy, but we cannot do that unless you get out and stop the focus on Ukraine.”
“The great arsenal of democracy” came to specifically refer to the industry of the U.S., as the primary supplier of material for the Allied war effort [WWII].
Meanwhile, he wants to pull a Zelensky back home. /s
“My fellow soldiers are really impressed with what I’ve done in Bakhmut, the massive scale of work that I did there, and after that they just don’t care about who I sleep with,” Honzyk, whose medical unit evacuates wounded soldiers and provides emergency first aid, said in a hip café in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, while on leave from the front line.
That doesn’t sound like what Ivan told the following publication, three days later:
Ivan Honzyk came out as gay in March last year. His sexuality is a problem for others. In Russia, he keeps appearing on television for propaganda purposes. In Ukraine, many homosexuals have a hard time in the army. Many live in hiding, says Ivan Honzyk. Soldiers don’t want to meet him for fear of being mistaken for gay themselves.
Editor’s Note: The degree of respect for LGBTQ people has increasingly become a measure of democratic health in former Soviet states. If Russia were a place where Pride parades were allowed, its quarrels with the United States, and ours with it, would possibly diminish, writes James Kirchick. This article originally appeared in the Washington Post.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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