Situation For LGBT People In Ukraine Worsened Over Last Year
Hromadske International’s Sunday Show Examines Civil Rights For Gay People In Eastern Europe.
The Sunday Show is the flagship TV-show produced by the Hromadske International team from its global headquarters in Kyiv, Ukraine. This is the only prime-time TV program explaining the Eastern European geopolitical storm in English.
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anchored by Maxim Eristavi and Sabra Ayres
produced by Chris Dunnett, Isobel Koshiw, Stephen Gellner and Maria Zhdanova
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A little over a year after the Maidan Revolution there has been little progress for LGBT rights. On the Day Against Homophobia the rights of LGBT identifying persons are once again put at the forefront of worldwide attention. Instead of condemnation of homophobia, there were only small protests in major Eastern European cities as many still fear the repercussions of taking a public stand. How much longer will these societies have to remain closeted and oppressed by the much more stringent and traditional governments?
Progress for LGBT rights in Ukraine has stagnated, Olena Shevchenko, a prominent Ukrainian LGBT activist, told Hromadske. Although the Maidan revolution mobilized Ukrainians the LGBT community now understands that the protest movement was not about human rights and since Maidan thecommunity has not strengthened. “This is the biggest dissapointement for the LBGT community”, said Shevchenko.
A flash mob held in Kyiv to mark International Day against Homophobia was attended by just couple of dozens of people. According to Shevchenko, the low attendance at the flash mob can be attributed to the fact that they feared prompting the event because the potential of homophobic backlash.
ILGA-Europe ‘Rainbow Map’ puts Ukraine at fourth worst, in front of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia. Ukraine remains one of the worst places for LGBT rights in Europe, where there remains no protected status for people identifying as LGBT.
Here we can see footage of the first and last gay-pride parade in Kyiv, Ukraine in 2013.
In 2014 organizers had to cancel their planned parade as police said that they would not protect the activists from any homophobic protesters.
The Ukrainian authorities are also adding to the lack of progress in LGBT rights, said Shevchenko, the homophobic attitudes within society extend to the highest levels. The authorities have told the LGBT community they are unable to introduce laws against hate crimes and discrimination because of the country’s “critical situation of conflict with Russia”. Shevchenko told Hromadske that in Russia activists are comparatively more galvanized because of the government’s anti-gay propaganda and discrimination laws.
Another factor adding to the stagnation of the LGBT community in Ukraine, added Shevchenko, is the lack of LGBT role models. For most people being gay is a distant concept and people are too afraid to come out publicly.
Russia’s LGBT Community Galvanized By Anti-Gay Law
In contrast at an IDAHOT rally in St Petersburg, Russia 350 people attended which organizers say makes it the biggest LGBT rally in Russia’s history.
According to Svetlana Zakharova a representative of the Russian LGBT network, similarly to the previous year, said Zakharova, the gathering went undisturbed by police and homophobic protesters.
Though Russia remains the 3rd worst country in Europe in terms of LGBT equality, according to the ILGA index, the situation has improved over the last year.
Zakharova told Hromadske that she had seen some positive change over the last year. The government’s homophobic policies and pressure on LGBT people has inadvertently united and strengthened the LGBT community, said Zakharova . This year, for example, the community has managed to open two community centers, according to Zakharova.
Zakharova told Hromadske that another reason why the situation for Russia’s LGBT community might be improving is because the Russian government is busy with other issues such as the economy and the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
At the same time, said Zakharova, the Russian ombudsman for human rights recently published a report which said that LGBT rights in Russia were not being violated — ignoring the anti-gay propaganda law passed in 2013 and the frequent attacks against LGBT people.
While the protests in St. Petersburg were surprisingly relatively peaceful, dozens of people were arrested in Moscow and the Rainbow Flashmob organizer in Khabarovsk was beaten and sprayed with tear gas.
In other parts of Eastern Europe LGBT civil rights protests were happening in atmosphere of tension and fear: an IDAHOT rally was attacked and broke up by homophobic protesters in Chisinau, Moldova.
In Tbilisi, Georgia LGBT activists were forced to rally without traditional rainbow flags and amid heavy police presence.
Although, ending on a positive note, during our livecast this happened:
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