Queer people's experiences of war have largely been invisible. Portraits like the ones in this book are rare because most recent wars have been fought in places where it is generally unsafe for queer people to come out. But Russia's invasion of Ukraine is different: Queer people have become a visible part of the war effort, continuing to fight for their rights as they join the fight for their country. Queer freedom and the fight for democracy are deeply entwined in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has partly framed the war as a battle to protect ?traditional values,? making this the first war in which a global superpower has invaded its neighbour with the explicit goal of rolling back LGBTQ rights. Award-winning photographer and journalist J. Lester Feder shows us The Queer Face of War in this remarkable collection of stunning portraits and moving profiles. AUTHOR: J. Lester Feder is a photographer and musician who tells stories about how global forces shape our everyday lives. Feder's recent work has focused on the experience of LGBTQ people in armed conflict. He was a senior fellow at the global LGBTQ organisation Outright International from 2021 to 2023, where he focused on Afghanistan and Ukraine, and is currently a senior fellow in the Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic at the City University of New York School of Law. SELLING POINTS: . The Queer Face of War is the first-ever broadly representative visual and oral history of an LGBTQ+ community in war . Combining portraits and oral histories of dozens of LGBTQ+ Ukrainians, this work shows how queer people can be uniquely vulnerable in conflict
