Organizing committee declares that KyivPride-2024 can be held in subway without consent of Kyiv City State Administration or subway

The organizing committee declares that KyivPride-2024 can be held in the subway without the approval of the Kyiv City State Administration or the subway.

This is announced in the statement of the organizing committee on Facebook, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

The organizing committee emphasizes that KyivPride did not appeal to the Kyiv City State Administration with a request to close subway stations or allocate funds from the city budget and opposes the involvement of a public organization in a political confrontation in the capital.

The statement noted that on May 16, the NGO KyivPride turned to the Kyiv City Military Administration with a proposal to organize a meeting and agree on various options for holding the March, but as of today, such a meeting has not taken place.

"We are concerned that the communication with the city authorities went into the public sphere and acquired an emotional color. Given the high probability of a missile attack, we really consider the subway as the main and safest place to hold the March, taking into account, in particular, the positive experience of KharkivPride. KyivPride 2024 may take place in the subway in one form or another without the official approval of the Kyiv City Military Administration or the Kyiv Subway, however, as organizers, we are always in favor of a dialogue with the authorities," the statement reads.

The organizing committee hopes for a constructive dialogue with the Kyiv authorities and a joint search for solutions that will allow the KyivPride 2024 March to be held as safely as possible.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on June 3, the Kyiv City State Administration stated that it did not approve of holding the Equality March in the Kyiv subway, and the organizers are being asked to choose another location.

The KyivPride non-governmental organization announced that it is returning pride to the capital this year: a charity festival is planned for June 9, and an Equality March is planned for June 16, which is planned to be held in the Kyiv subway, and no more than 500 people will be able to join it.

The KyivPride team, after consultations with the LGBTQ community and representatives of civil society organizations, proposed the theme of the March "Unite for equality and victory". It was last held in the capital in 2021.