Solidarity Across Borders. Rebuilding With Inclusion.
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, GEM has stood in solidarity with Ukrainian communities and worked to amplify LGBTQIA+ perspectives within conversations on war, displacement, resilience, recovery, and reconstruction.
Our engagement with Ukraine grew from a shared understanding between Syrian and Ukrainian communities: while our histories and contexts are different, both societies have experienced the devastating consequences of Russian military aggression, mass displacement, destruction, and prolonged conflict.
For GEM, this shared experience creates an opportunity not to compare suffering, but to build solidarity, exchange knowledge, and learn from one another about recovery and rebuilding.
Syria and Ukraine have experienced war, displacement, destruction, loss, and the long-term challenge of rebuilding communities affected by conflict.
Within both contexts, LGBTQIA+ people have not simply been victims of crisis. They have organized, supported their communities, advocated internationally, and contributed to resilience.
Yet structured cooperation between Syrian and Ukrainian LGBTQIA+ movements remains limited.
GEM began building relationships, conducting needs assessment, and developing partnerships to explore what these communities can learn from one another—and what they can build together.
This work became the foundation for a larger vision:
The Syrian–Ukrainian Queer Solidarity Project was developed to create sustained collaboration, knowledge exchange, and leadership development between both communities.
Bringing Syrian and Ukrainian experiences into the same conversation.
Since the beginning of the war, GEM has participated in advocacy and public discussions connecting the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people affected by conflict, forced displacement, and Russian aggression.
This has included international conversations and academic spaces exploring how war affects queer communities and what solidarity can look like across different conflict contexts.
GEM participated in a joint discussion hosted through the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), bringing Syrian and Ukrainian queer displacement and experiences into conversation.
Explore the University of Cambridge event
These conversations helped shape GEM’s understanding that solidarity should move beyond statements of support toward structured cooperation, knowledge exchange, and shared action.
Building on our advocacy, needs assessment, networks, and partnerships, GEM developed the:
The initiative is designed to bring together LGBTQIA+ activists, researchers, advocates, and emerging leaders from Syria and Ukraine to exchange knowledge and explore how queer communities can participate meaningfully in their countries’ recovery and reconstruction.
Its objectives are to:
The proposed six-month Solidarity Fellowship would bring together:
Working alongside mentors and experts, fellows would examine LGBTQIA+ inclusion in recovery and reconstruction, leadership and civic engagement in conflict and post-conflict settings, resilience, and community rebuilding.
The program is designed to provide fellows with mentorship, training, research support, and resources to develop their work while learning directly from one another.
Two countries. Ten leaders. One space for mutual learning.
The fellowship is designed not only as a learning experience but as a pathway toward influencing how recovery is understood.
Syrian and Ukrainian fellows would jointly develop a policy and reflection paper:
“Lessons and Leadership Exchange: Inclusion of LGBTQIA+ Narratives in Recovery and Reconstruction”
The research would examine comparative leadership experiences, the integration of queer perspectives into national recovery agendas, and practical recommendations for policymakers and civil society.
The findings would then be brought into an international conversation through a proposed conference convening civil society representatives, policymakers, donors, researchers, and LGBTQIA+ leaders.
Wars destroy infrastructure, institutions, livelihoods, communities, and social connections.
Reconstruction therefore creates an opportunity to ask a larger question:
What kind of society are we rebuilding?
GEM believes LGBTQIA+ communities should not be treated only as vulnerable populations receiving assistance. They should be recognized as leaders, researchers, advocates, professionals, and participants in shaping recovery.
Our Syrian–Ukrainian work seeks to ensure that queer perspectives are part of conversations about:
The proposed project is designed to strengthen the visibility and participation of LGBTQIA+ communities within recovery and rebuilding processes in both contexts.
The foundation is being built. The next step requires resources.
GEM has begun the groundwork through advocacy, needs assessment, networking, relationship-building, and partnership development.
The larger Syrian–Ukrainian Queer Solidarity Project is currently being prepared for implementation and will move forward as the necessary partnerships and financial resources are secured.
Its proposed pathway is:
Solidarity → Exchange → Leadership → Research → Policy → Inclusive Recovery
The goal is not to create a one-time project, but to establish stronger and more sustained connections between Syrian and Ukrainian LGBTQIA+ movements that can continue contributing to recovery and reconstruction over time.
GEM’s proposed initiative connecting emerging Syrian and Ukrainian LGBTQIA+ leaders through fellowship, mentorship, joint research, policy engagement, and international exchange.
An example of GEM’s earlier engagement in international conversations connecting queer experiences of conflict and displacement.
