Coming Out, Citizenship, and War: Saba Yamani on LGBTQ Life in Kyiv
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2026/03/25
Saba Yamani is a Kyiv-based dental professional born in Saudi Arabia to a Saudi father and a Syrian mother. She first arrived in Ukraine at age three after her father married a Ukrainian woman, whom she considers her mother. Raised in Kyiv, Yamani was baptized in the Orthodox Church and later came out as LGBTQ+. During the full-scale invasion, she sought protection from Ukraine’s State Migration Service after facing pressure to leave and the risk of deportation. She currently works at a private dental clinic and is preparing for the Ukrainian citizenship exam in May.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen interviews Saba Yamani, a Kyiv-based dental professional born in Saudi Arabia to a Saudi father and Syrian mother, raised in Ukraine by her Ukrainian stepmother. Yamani describes coming out first to friends, then navigating family reactions, and attending Kyiv Pride in 2019 amid heavy police protection. She explains how the 2022 full-scale invasion halted Pride events and intensified risks for LGBTQ visibility online. Yamani also recounts discovering she was undocumented, receiving a deportation warning, and fearing return to Saudi Arabia, including potential forced marriage. She is seeking legal protection and preparing for Ukraine’s citizenship exam in May.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: When did you come out? That is an important question.
Saba Yamani: I came out to my friends as soon as I fell in love for the first time. It was an online relationship. My friends were supportive.
Coming out to my family was different. Coming out to friends when your family may not be accepting is a very different experience. My stepmother and my father reacted differently, which I expected.
I believed my stepmother would accept me, and she did. In 2019, I attended my first Kyiv Pride. She knew I would be going and did not object.
Jacobsen: How did you like it?
Yamani: It was amazing. Kyiv Pride 2019 had around 8,000 participants, and the atmosphere felt powerful and historic. Police provided extensive protection, escorting the march and blocking counter-protesters. I wish the war had not interrupted that.
There was no Pride march in Kyiv in 2022 because of the full-scale invasion and security risks. Instead, Kyiv Pride partnered with Warsaw Pride for solidarity events abroad. Large public gatherings in Ukraine remain restricted under wartime conditions.
Ukraine is not uniformly accepting of LGBTQ people. Legal protections have gradually expanded, and national leadership has publicly supported equal rights, though social attitudes vary. Far-right nationalist groups, including elements associated with Right Sector, have historically opposed Pride events. In previous years, there were attempts by extremists to disrupt marches, though police intervention prevented major violence in 2019.
As in many countries, tensions around LGBTQ rights reflect broader political divides between nationalist, conservative, and liberal segments of society. The situation remains complex: state institutions increasingly provide protection, while some social groups continue to resist LGBTQ visibility.
And actually, some Ukrainians as well. I am openly queer on social media, and I receive comments telling me to go back to my country and stop ruining their lives or their traditions. Some accuse me of bringing in foreign values or “American influence.”
Jacobsen: I have noticed that certain terms are very loaded for some people. Even mentioning LGBTQ issues can provoke strong reactions.
Yamani: Yes. For some, even the acronym feels provocative.
Jacobsen: To me, it is simply a description.
Yamani: But those groups react strongly. That kind of hostility toward LGBTQ people is a global phenomenon. Far-right movements in many countries are often associated with harassment and violence against LGBTQ communities. In Ukraine, while violence is not widespread in everyday life, the negative sentiment can still be present.
Sometimes people ask, “Why do you need to say that you are queer in public?” But that question proves the point. Visibility matters because of how people are treated.
Jacobsen: I cover both American and international cases regularly, and there is never a shortage of news about restrictions, discrimination, or violence. Ukraine has challenges, but it is still significantly more open than places like Saudi Arabia.
Yamani: Yes. Ukraine has serious problems, but they are not comparable to Saudi Arabia’s. Here, you can be yourself to a much greater extent, even if there are risks or backlash.
Jacobsen: Are you aware of organizations, perhaps connected to Kyiv Pride or research groups, that independent journalists might consult when covering LGBTQ issues during the war?
Yamani: I may know some, but my situation is complicated. I am not a Ukrainian citizen. For many years, I did not realize that my residency status was irregular. I only discovered it when I was about sixteen and tried to obtain identification documents.
From 2017 onward, I was technically undocumented without knowing it. It was not my fault. In 2022, after the full-scale invasion, I hired a lawyer to help resolve my status. When my records were reviewed, authorities informed me that I had been undocumented and sent me a letter regarding possible deportation.
Jacobsen: How did you feel about that?
Yamani: I was frightened. I publicly came out at the beginning of 2022. I was very emotional and thought, if I am going to die, at least I will die as myself. So I came out on Instagram. The deportation letter arrived after that. It felt like a huge mistake to have come out.
If you are deported, you are sent back to the country where you were born. For me, it felt like the end of the world. My country was at war, and I faced the possibility of being sent somewhere I experienced as even more restrictive.
Jacobsen: Part of what makes a place feel like home is the ability to be yourself. If you cannot live openly, it does not feel like home. If you had been forced to return, would you have been pressured into marriage?
Yamani: That was possible. When I was sixteen, my father came to Ukraine and told me that after finishing the school year — I had not yet graduated — I would return and marry my cousin. I went to my room and cried for two days.
Ironically, my unresolved legal status in 2017 prevented me from leaving easily, which may have protected me from being sent back at that time.
There was also a period when my parents were divorcing. My father said he would take me with him. I refused. That was when I stopped wearing the hijab at school. I decided I would do everything possible to avoid returning. I made that promise to myself, and I kept it.
Jacobsen: That sounds like a decisive turning point.
Yamani: It was.
Jacobsen: Thank you very much for the opportunity and your time, Saba.
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