I just liked the light

Great day (for me).

Such a relief to no longer be in my new boss' position. 

I just liked the light and then the sparrow photobombed the picture. 

One of my neighbors is having a crummy birthday. She is a nurse and has managed all of this time to avoid Covid. She is on her fourth day post symptomatic onset. Her husband both tried to avoid it and also assumed he'd get it and warned me to keep Samuel away so he didn't spread it to our household. Samuel adores him and would ordinarily be all over him. Now he has it. The poor woman is extroverted and going nuts and had persuaded herself that if she wore a mask she could go to the grocery store. Another neighbor and I persuaded her to stay home. The other neighbor picked up and delivered her groceries and we both bought her a meal to "celebrate." She is supposed to go back to work tomorrow. Being a polite, diplomatic, sensitive person, I told her that five days is bs. 

The second-biggest residential property in London, after Buckingham Palace, is the "Witanhurst." It is owned by Russian oligarch Andrey Guryev. His yacht is only worth $120 million. (Does it even have a pad for helicopters? So sad.) The US issued a new round of sanctions on him and on Putin's mistress. Her name is Anna Kabaeva. She is a former Olympic gymnast. She now has no access to assets in the US, can't conduct transactions with Americans, and can't enter the US. Sanctions hit high-tech entities to hurt Russia's military. 

Remember the gay marriage petition that went to President Zelensky? With the war lots of heterosexual soldiers rushed to marry before going to war. Anastasia Sovenko, 24, an English teacher, drafted the petition after reading about this and realizing that the gay recruits didn't have a lot of rights that matter when it comes to hospitalization and death. 

Changing the law will be difficult because their constitution defines marriage as between a man and a woman and changing it requires a 2/3 vote by Parliament. While the percentage of Ukrainians with a negative view of the LGBT community decreased from 60% to 38% over the last six years, in 2019 69% still said that society should not accept homosexuality. 

This said, war and death are pushing the issue. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that nations are not required to allow same-sex marriage but are required to make civil union available. In 2014 the Maidan Revolution deepened ties between gay activists and other activists. 

[On November 21, 2013, the Ukrainian government announced that it would not sign an association agreement with the European Union. Security forces attacked protestors on Maidan Square in central Kyiv and killed 100. It was called the Maidan Revolution. Late in February 2014, the French, German, and Polish foreign ministers worked out an agreement between the then leader of Ukraine and three opposition leaders. After signing the agreement, Ukraine's leader fled the country.]
But, last year thousands danced in the gay pride parade in Kyiv. Seeing LGBTQ people in uniform has helped foster acceptance. The EU, which Ukraine wants to join, supports marriage equality. Russia is homophobic. This probably has an impact too. Marriage equality certainly helps Ukraine show the EU it stands for liberal democratic values. 
Now for the adorable part: some LGBT members of the Ukrainian military wear a patch on their right arm. It is of a unicorn.