This thesis appeared in anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. In their messages, they used the Gender Zed NGO post about same-sex sex among Zaporizhzhia cossacks. Like, the Ukrainian LGBT community is trying to distort the “real” Ukrainian history and is trying to make all the cossacks “perverts”. Moreover, the Russian propaganda focused on the part of the message about transgender people in the Orthodox Church of that time. This is manipulation.

The message of the organization is not scientific and cannot be perceived as genuine information, as the authors themselves point out. In addition, the material says that in the Zaporizhzhia Sich there were cruel punishments for same-sex sexual practices. The authors of the message do not claim that all cossacks were gay, but simply explain that the fact that gays among the cossacks were quite real. According to a number of studies, the human population is 7-10% of homosexual people. Therefore, it is quite clear that they could be in the Sich as well.

Russian propaganda actively manipulates topics related to the LGBT community in Ukraine and beyond. Russia, using LGBT disinformation, despises the democratic system, opposing it to the Russian world. Detector Media refuted the main myths about the representatives of the LGBT community, and also told how Ukrainian LGBT activists help in the fight against Russian occupiers.