The scenes of the more than two and a half million Ukrainian refugees fleeing their country have been brutally heart-wrenching. Eastern Europe is being overwhelmed right now, and it’s worrisome. The despairing Ukrainians wait very long hours, sometimes even days to board buses and trains to cross the border. Some who have driven, have been leaving their cars and walking considerable distances — marathons to freedom. We are all shocked at what we’ve been seeing. The barbaric bulldozing of a free country by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Each day brings more shocking scenes, more horrific stories, and more desperate situations. This entire travesty, as I wrote last month before the war started, “spells doom for LGBTQ+ rights, on which progress has slowly started in Ukraine. Last September, over 7,000 people gathered in the capital city of Kyiv for the annual March for Equality, according to the Associated Press.”