Borders of Pride: An Eastern European Activist's Journey

In her hometown, being queer was something you survived, not something you said out loud. Pride was illegal, police raids were routine, and the first protest she helped organise ended with blood on the pavement and her friends' names in police files. This memoir follows an LGBT activist from a fiercely homophobic Eastern European country to the streets, courts, and community centres of Western Europe. It begins in secret Telegram groups and backroom meetings, where rainbow flags are hidden under coats and every march feels like a calculated risk. Death threats, state surveillance, and smear campaigns become part of daily life, even as each small victory proves too meaningful to abandon. When staying means silence or prison, she makes the hardest choice: leaving. In Western Europe, safety does not automatically equal belonging. She confronts subtle racism and xenophobia inside queer spaces, the guilt of leaving others behind, and the strange ache of building a new life in a language that is not her own. Between asylum interviews, street campaigns, and late-night strategy sessions, she slowly discovers chosen family, activist networks, and a version of pride that is not just an event—but a way of inhabiting the world. Told with urgency, humour, and uncompromising honesty, this book is for anyone who has ever felt their existence debated in parliament, who has crossed borders in search of a life they are allowed to live, or who wants to understand what LGBT rights really cost outside the safety of Western headlines.