From 15 to 30 June 2026, Ukrainian Wikipedia hosted its first-ever campaign dedicated to LGBTQ+ history, culture, human rights, social movements, events, organizations, and notable people.
Fourteen Wikipedians took part in Pride Week and created 50 new articles. Participants also created categories and templates that will make it easier to continue developing LGBTQ+-related content on Ukrainian Wikipedia. Eleven participants will receive prizes provided by the campaign partners.
Participants worked on a wide range of topics, including sexuality, romantic orientation, intersex issues and LGBTQ+ terminology; gender identity, non-binary identities and third-gender concepts; LGBTQ+ flags and symbols; LGBTQ+ history and rights; Pride events, festivals and visibility days; as well as biographies of LGBTQ+ people, activists and public figures.
The articles created during the campaign covered LGBTQ+ concepts, symbols, and people whose stories had not previously been represented on Ukrainian Wikipedia. Here are a few examples:
- Aromanticism is a romantic orientation in which a person experiences little or no romantic attraction.
- A rainbow crossing is a pedestrian crossing painted in the colors of the rainbow flag as a visible symbol of support for the LGBTQ+ community.
- Margo Heumann was a Jewish Holocaust survivor who is considered the first known queer Jewish woman to have survived Nazi concentration camps.
- Vera Holme was a British actress, suffragette and the first professional woman chauffeur in London. During the First World War, she and her partner worked as ambulance drivers.
- Barbara Smith is an American lesbian feminist, writer, publisher and activist who played an important role in the development of Black feminism.
For Ukrainian Wikipedia, organizing this campaign was a particularly important step. We had been considering an initiative focused on LGBTQ+ topics for a long time, but we were hesitant to take it on because we expected that it might provoke hostility or negative reactions. In 2026, we finally decided to move forward with the idea.
To our own surprise, the campaign received no negative comments at all. This response showed us that the Ukrainian Wikipedia community was ready for such an initiative and encouraged us to continue organizing Pride Week in the coming years.
The Ukrainian Pride Week was part of the international Wiki Loves Pride 2026 campaign, which brings together Wikimedians from different countries to create and improve content about LGBTQ+ people, culture and history across Wikimedia projects.
In 2026, Wiki Loves Pride contests were also held on the Bengali, English, Spanish, French and Slovak Wikipedias. An international Wiki Loves Pride photography contest was organized on Wikimedia Commons as well.
In 2026, Wiki Loves Pride contests were also held on the Bengali, English, Spanish, French and Slovak Wikipedias. An international Wiki Loves Pride photography contest was organized on Wikimedia Commons as well.
The campaign was initiated and organized by volunteers from the Ukrainian Wikipedia community in partnership with KyivPride and GENDER STREAM, two well-known Ukrainian civil society organizations working to protect LGBTQ+ rights, increase the visibility of LGBTQ+ communities, and promote equality.
We are grateful to all the participants who helped make knowledge about LGBTQ+ people and communities more complete and accessible in Ukrainian. The results of the first Pride Week have given us the confidence to continue this work and develop the campaign further in the years ahead.
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