Homosexuality in Ukraine

Ukraine

Homosexuality is legal in Ukraine , but it is largely rejected in society.

Legal position

Homosexuality has been legal in Ukraine since 1991 . The age of consent is uniformly adjusted to 16 years. A same-sex marriage or registered partnership has not been legally permitted in Ukraine. Protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation has been in place by law since 2014. Ukrainian law is not enforceable on the Crimea peninsula, which is annexed by Russia , where de facto Russian law applies , see Homosexuality in Russia .

In 2011, six MPs from various parliamentary groups, including the Communist Party and the Fatherland Party , submitted a bill to the Ukrainian parliament that would criminalize the dissemination of information about homosexuality as “propagating homosexuality”. The draft met with opposition from among others the party alliance “ Our Ukraine ” and from LGBT associations. In a letter to the Ukrainian parliament, the human rights organization Human Rights Watch protested against what it saw as discriminatory and contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.

On May 16, 2012, a new draft law was introduced into the Ukrainian parliament, which aims to amend existing laws “for the protection of morality” as well as laws relating to the press and publishing and to criminalize any dissemination of information about homosexuality and bisexuality. The draft law was approved by the Ukrainian parliament in October 2012.

In November 2015, a draft law was passed in the Ukrainian parliament that in future will prohibit discrimination in the workplace based on characteristics such as age, nationality, race, disability, HIV status and sexual orientation.

Social situation

Demonstration of the citizens' initiative “Love against Homosexuality” in September 2008 in Kiev .

The social attitude towards homosexuality is rather negative. The American polling institute Pew Research Center found in a representative survey in 2007 that only 19 percent of the surveyed Ukrainians consider homosexuality to be an acceptable lifestyle, while 69 percent reject it. In terms of tolerance towards homosexuality, Ukraine was thus in last place among the six East and East Central European countries examined, just behind Russia . In the younger population between 18 and 39 years old, 25 percent found that homosexuality was acceptable, but here too the level of approval was the lowest among all East and Central European countries that took part in the survey. Similar results came from a poll by the Canadian polling institute Angus Reid Public Opinion in Ukraine in the same year, according to which 81.3 percent of those surveyed did not consider same-sex relationships to be acceptable under any circumstances, and only 5.7 percent considered them generally acceptable. Homosexual relationships were rated more negatively than traffic offenses, rudeness, adultery, euthanasia, tax evasion, abortion or sex before marriage, only shoplifting and driving under the influence of alcohol were rejected even more clearly. Homophobic attitudes are attributed, among other things, to the legacy of the Soviet era, when homosexuality was still a criminal offense, but also to religious conservatism.

A small homosexual community can be found primarily in the capital Kiev and to a lesser extent in Odessa . The country's first “ Gay Parade ”, organized in Kiev on May 20, 2012, had to be canceled at short notice due to violent attacks by nationalists and ultra-conservative Orthodox Christians at the starting point of the parade. After a gay pride parade planned for May 25, 2013 in Kiev had originally been prohibited by a court, a demonstration with around 100 participants for the equality of homosexuals took place on that day, under strong police protection. The "March of Equality" planned for July 5, 2014 was canceled by the security authorities. In June 2015, members of the right-wing Prawyj sector attacked an LGBT parade in Kiev.

See also

• Laws on homosexuality
• Equality (homosexuals)

Web links

• Süddeutsche.de : Homosexuality in Ukraine: Dangerous Kisses , April 25, 2013.
• RIA Novosti : Ukraine wants to criminalize "gay propaganda" , October 2, 2012

Individual evidence

1. ^ State-sponsored homophobia. (PDF; 392 kB) (No longer available online.) In: ILGA Report. ILGA , May 2008, archived from the original on March 6, 2009 ; accessed on July 2, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Дискриминация гомосексуалов в Украине запрещена по решению Высшего специализированного суда. In: Gay.ru. Alexandra Lopata, May 25, 2014, accessed August 10, 2014 (Russian). 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Julia Ryabchun : Rada deputies submit a bill to ban the "propaganda of homosexuality". In: Kommersant Ukraina. Ukraine News, June 23, 2011, accessed November 5, 2011 . 
4. ↑ Dangerous kisses. In: sueddeutsche.de. April 25, 2013. Retrieved June 14, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Ukraine: Reject Homophobic Law. Censoring Information on Homosexuality Would Violate Rights. Human Rights Watch, October 16, 2011, accessed November 5, 2011 . 
6. ↑ Ukraine: Law banning the advertising of homosexuality introduced into parliament. thinkoutsideyourbox.net, May 20, 2012, accessed June 13, 2012 . 
7. ↑ queer.de: Homophobia, Also Ukraine for the ban on homo-propaganda
8. ↑ Queer.de: Ukraine passes a law against discrimination
9. ^ BBC: Ukraine passes anti-discrimination law
10. ^ Sharp Differences Over Homosexuality. (PDF; 1.9 MB) (No longer available online.) In: 47-Nation Pew Global Attitudes Survey, p. 35. Pew Research Center, October 4, 2007, archived from the original on February 3, 2012 ; accessed on November 4, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ↑ An Age Gap on Religion, Homosexuality. (PDF; 1.9 MB) (No longer available online.) In: 47-Nation Pew Global Attitudes Survey, p. 36. Pew Research Center, October 4, 2007, archived from the original on February 3, 2012 ; accessed on November 4, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
12. ↑ Ukrainians Decry Shoplifting, Drunk Driving. (No longer available online.) Angus Reid Public Opinion, December 18, 2007, archived from the original October 23, 2011 ; accessed on November 4, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
13. ^ Helen Fawkes: Elton John gig divides Ukrainians. BBC News , June 17, 2007, accessed July 2, 2009 . 
14. ↑ Vladimir Matveyev: Trembling in Ukraine. (No longer available online.) Jewish Telegraphic Agency, archived from the original on July 29, 2009 ; accessed on July 2, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
15. ↑ Attacks on gays in Kiev: police watched. In: the daily newspaper , May 22, 2012. Accessed June 13, 2012.
16. ↑ The gay parade planned for Saturday is prohibited in Kiev  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Ostthüringer Zeitung of May 23, 2013  
17. ↑ Homosexuals demonstrate for the first time in Kiev , Die Zeit, May 25, 2013
18. ↑ Twenty minutes of recognition , Sueddeutsche Zeitung of May 28, 2013
19. ↑ CSD CANCELLATION IN KIEV. Hamburger Morgenpost , July 10, 2014, accessed on August 18, 2014 . 
20. ↑ KIEVPRIDE 2014 CANCELED FOR SECURITY REASONS. (No longer available online.) CSD Munich , July 10, 2014, archived from the original on August 19, 2014 ; Retrieved August 18, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
21. ↑ Kiev: Violence Against Homosexuals March. In: derstandard.at. Retrieved July 12, 2015 .