{"id":51301,"date":"2026-02-15T01:53:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T00:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ket.brussels\/?p=51301"},"modified":"2026-02-15T14:12:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T13:12:21","slug":"queens-of-joy-ukrainian-drag-queer-resistance-and-why-our-solidarity-still-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ket.brussels\/fr\/2026\/02\/15\/queens-of-joy-ukrainian-drag-queer-resistance-and-why-our-solidarity-still-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens of Joy: Ukrainian Drag, Queer Resistance and Why Our Solidarity Still Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Russia\u2019s full-scale war against Ukraine drags into another year, Ukrainian drag artists and queer activists are still on the frontline of both survival and visibility. ARTE\u2019s new documentary Queens of Joy \u2013 United for Freedom<\/em> follows three drag queens who choose to stay, fight and care, turning the stage into a battlefield for democracy and LGBTQIA+ rights.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drag queens who stay, fight and care<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sur Queens of Joy \u2013 United for Freedom<\/em>, Marlen Scandal, Monroe and Aura refuse the script that queerness equals fragility. When Vladimir Putin\u2019s troops invade, they decide not to hide or flee, but to rebuild their lives inside a country at war.<\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aura, the drag persona of Artur, joins a Ukrainian army unit that supplies equipment to soldiers at the front. Coming out to his fellow soldiers, he says he no longer fears anything once they have seen him in full glitter as Aura. Monroe, a trans woman and drag diva, has been a visible activist since the Maidan revolution in 2014, when protests toppled pro\u2011Russian president Viktor Yanukovych and demanded a democratic and European future for Ukraine. Today, she keeps sharing her life on YouTube, from tourism campaigns in Bucovina to her psychology studies, insisting that queer visibility is part of the country\u2019s democratic horizon.<\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sasha, who performs as Marlen Scandal, delivers parcels by day in largely Russian\u2011speaking Kharkiv and becomes a flamboyant queen by night. Between drag shows and everyday hustle, he campaigns for legal recognition of same\u2011sex couples while being in love with his girlfriend Olja, proving once again that queer lives and relationships do not fit into easy boxes. Together with fellow performer Janna DarkRoom, the trio prepares a charity show in a Kyiv club to raise funds for soldiers, turning nightlife into an infrastructure of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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