Purging Queerness in Soviet Ukraine: The Pre- and Post-Criminalization Contexts

• In Event: Queer Ukraine: Culture, Literature, Legislation

Abstract

The talk will examine several cases of the prosecution of gays in Soviet Ukraine, both before and after homosexuality was criminalized. I will describe the prosecution files, and discuss how the Ukrainian SSR was an outlier among Soviet republics in terms of legislation vis-à-vis homosexuality and how it was applied. Using these archival sources, I will elaborate on queer life in Ukraine and the legal peculiarities surrounding this subculture and lifestyle.

Author

• Alex Averbuch, U of Michigan