Sarah Ashton-Cirillo

Courage in politics is too often lacking. 

“The reason I am not dead now is sheer luck. Nothing else, because they want to kill every single one of us. Just because we are Ukrainians.”

For just over six months, she has been imprisoned in the Russian Federation for possession of a vape pen that held a small amount of cannabis oil.

A gay son. A queer daughter married to a transgender partner. And the father who loves them all? He’s a 63-year-old white man from a small town in Georgia. 

“Tens of thousands of queer Ukrainians defending our country during this genocide made this possible. Centuries of our anti-colonial struggle against Russian patriarchal and homophobic tyranny made this possible.”

“I believe in approaching things that scare you, and part of why I ended up here was because I took a direction that scared me, and that’s important.”

“They predict a red wave, but here, because of the awful candidates that have made their way to the nominations, and the baggage they carry, we’ll end up with a pink tidal pool.”

Ukraine has one suicide prevention organization and calls are up 300% since the Russian invasion.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the United States suspended operations in Kyiv. But they didn’t stop helping Americans who needed them – especially the queer community.

“We are Ukraine’s voice for liberty.”