A transgender American woman joined the Ukrainian army and will go to the front line

Sarah Ashton-Cirillo returned to the United States in December 2022 for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A transgender American woman came to Ukraine 10 months ago to cover the war for one of the publications, writes “Voice of America«.

Photo: IStock

Ashton-Cirillo, who was born in north Florida, was the communications director for a California medical company before launching Politic.tips, a site covering politics in Nevada and across the country. She sought to expose extremist Republicans in her reporting, reports Blade.

According to Sarah, when she entered Ukraine, she was worried that she might have problems due to a sex change.

“I had problems with paperwork due to my medical situation. I wasn’t sure that Ukrainians would react well to a transgender reporter talking about the situation in the country during the war,” she said.

But the experience in Ukraine has changed her own views on how society can perceive members of the LGBTQ community.

In March, Sarah Ashton-Cirillo traveled to Kharkiv, where she began reporting on the situation in the region for LGBTQ Nation.

“I discovered that under President Zelensky and the current rules of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, I had more freedom as a reporter in wartime Ukraine than at home in the United States trying to film the work of police officers,” she noted.

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One of the stories Ashton-Cirillo wrote for LGBTQ Nation while in Ukraine was about the problems transgender people faced when they tried to leave the country. It turned out that the identity documents did not match their gender identity.

The Ukrainian human rights group Gender Stream helped more than 50 transgender and non-binary people obtain the necessary documents that allowed them to leave the country. Ashton-Cirillo acknowledged that "there were problems, but people could leave."

“From the very first day, when my passport was stamped at the border, I learned that Ukraine is very hospitable. This is not even a question of social tolerance, not a question of the perception of the identity of very different people. Ukraine is a country that values ​​freedom and stands for freedom for all people. Here I worked with even greater efficiency: first as a reporter, and then as a military medic, thanks to the fact that my gender does not matter here,” Sarah emphasized.

Russian forced castration of Ukrainian gays and Russian lists to hunt LGBTQ people in Mariupol and other cities are the stories Sara told for LGBTQ Nation.

In an article in LGBTQ Nation magazine, she notes that Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova publicly accused her on April 21 of being involved in the disappearance of journalist Gonzalo Lear, who she said was “held by the Ukrainian state security services.” Zakharova, according to Ashton-Cirillo, described her as a "transgender journalist from Las Vegas" who took pictures with "bandits", referring to Ukrainian soldiers.

“It made me cry. It was the first time I cried,” Sarah admitted.

She said a member of the Azov Regiment, a unit of the Ukrainian National Guard that defended the port city of Mariupol during the Russian siege, asked her why she was crying.

“You were under rocket fire. You saw dead bodies. You didn't cry," he said. Sarah told him about the attacks of the Russian representatives.

“I am very proud of you, because it means that you really get to them,” replied the member of the Azov regiment. After that, the American said that this conversation "changed my whole thinking."

“I’ve never been to Kyiv,” she noted. “But when I came to this city, I saw that it was bustling and beautiful. I froze in admiration. Wow, Kyiv is beautiful!”

Sarah was in Kyiv on October 10 when Russia launched a missile attack on the Ukrainian capital. According to her, one of the rockets fell less than 200 meters from the apartment in which she was staying. Sarah was the first journalist to arrive on the scene.

“I had my ID, vest and helmet with me, and I made a video that was watched millions of times,” she said, noting that President Volodymyr Zelensky shared it on his official Instagram page, and Ukrainian TV channels broadcast it on their pages in the night. news releases. “This was my last journalistic work,” she stated.

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After what she saw on the front line, Sarah applied to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“Daily shelling and the knowledge that I was being attacked every day, day after day, made this war my personal affair. I realized what I could do in this fight for the freedom of Ukraine on the front line, not even as a reporter or a civilian, but as a soldier,” Sarah shared her thoughts.

“I can shoot. I'm a southern country girl, so I can shoot. The village girl will survive,” she is convinced.

Sarah has a medical background, so she was offered a job in the medical unit. The American has already completed the standard NATO medical training course for combat medics. Now she is waiting to be sent to the front line.

“Transmitting is a hellish place, this is the epicenter of hell. I was there and saw the bombed ambulances with my own eyes,” Sarah noted.

Ashton-Cirillo speaks with his comrades at the front through Google Translate not only in English, but also in other languages. According to her, some of them asked why she changed sex and how long ago she learned about her gender identity. Sarah called these questions "genuine curiosity." She also said that everyone cheered her up when Russian state media badmouthed Sarah again last month.

She says that Ukraine has already won by demonstrating its courage and Russia's military impotence. The American stressed that Ukraine "cares about humanity, but Putin and his war criminals do not."

“The division between the two societies is obvious,” she said. — Life in Ukraine is not only tolerance, but also freedom. And now the whole world is beginning to realize this as each new advance in civil rights occurs.”

Sarah hopes that the United States will continue to help Ukraine bring victory closer.

In December, while in Washington, she spoke to lawmakers on behalf of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry about further support for Ukraine.

Ashton-Cirillo met with U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), members of the staff of U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), and other lawmakers or their senior aides.

“We were focused on Ukraine,” Ashton-Cirillo said. - I'm impartial here. I am here to represent Ukraine's interests so that we can win this war with our greatest ally, the United States."

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An analysis by the American Peace Institute, published six months ago, said that although Ukraine has made progress in protecting the rights of LGBTQ people and welcomes gays and lesbians in its armed forces, society still has work to do in this direction.

But the attitude towards LGBTQ people in the country is definitely changing for the better. If in 2019, according to the public opinion research organization Pew, 69% of respondents said that same-sex relationships are unacceptable, and only 14% spoke out in their defense, then in May 2022, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, already 64% of respondents believe that LGBTQ people should have equal rights with other members of society, while 26% of respondents have the opposite opinion.

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