.
Report on the Situation of Homosexuals in Ukraine in 2006
Nash Mir (Our World) Gay and Lesbian Centre (www.gay.org.ua)
I. Introduction
Our public organization has followed the situation of homosexual people in Ukraine for a number of years now. We collect information about society's attitudes towards gays and lesbians, keep track of related issues in the media, monitor observance of homosexual rights, and watch the position of the country's authorities in regards to this issue. Nash Mir has already conducted specialized research and made several reports about these various topics in the past.
Now we have decided to make annual reports based on collected information. They will be circulated to Ukrainian and international organizations that deal with human rights. The information reflected in this document can be used in other reports concerning human rights in Ukraine.
II. Society
In December 2006, the Kiev International Institute of Sociology conducted a poll on how societal attitudes towards gays have been changing for the last 15 years. Their findings showed that although the level of homophobia had slightly fallen from 34.9 % in 1991 to 28.5 % in 2006, the number of Ukrainian citizens who experience fear and unreasoned hatred against homosexuals is still too big (diagram 1). The number of Ukrainians who see gays as normal has nearly not changed at all (33.7 % in 1991 to 33.3 % in 2006). On the other hand, the number of those who neither agree nor disagree that gays should have equal rights has doubled (8.9 % in 1991 to 16.3 % in 2006). Based on these data, it’s possible to draw the conclusion that Ukrainian society is becoming, although fairly slowly, more tolerant towards homosexuals.
In 2006, the so-called public initiative "Love Against Homosexuality" continued their appearances. Specifically, on September 9, these groups organized a street protest in the center of Kiev in which 50 people – neo-Protestants, Orthodox, and Catholic church-goers – took part. Later, organizers of the movement appealed to Ukrainian political parties to express their own attitude towards homosexuals and urged them to condemn this phenomenon.
III. The Churches
C) In November 2006 the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations published an open letter about same-sex unions (registered partnership). In particular, it was stated that: "The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations representing the main Christian, Jewish and Muslim confessions of Ukraine, propose that the Supreme Council of Ukraine clearly and unequivocally fix in the laws of our state that a family can only be established by a man and a woman.
Family, as a union of man and woman, is set by God.
<...> The experience of countries which register same-sex marriages or partnerships shows that the process of liberalising public morals by the state ends in abyss. Where prostitution and drug addiction, same-sex marriages and euthanasia are legalized, there is already a question about the legalization of paedophilia. At the same time such states suffer most from a demographic crisis and spiritual degradation. Already in the near future, extinction threatens the native population of these countries. We do not want Ukraine to go this way."
IV. Media
In 2006, the national media repeatedly covered topics related to homosexuals. We gathered not less than fifty instances in print and television news where issues related to Ukrainian gays and lesbians were mentioned. These articles were in the newspapers Sevodnya, Commersant-Ukraine, Facti, Kiev Post, and Ekonomicheskiye ezvestia; broadcast in reports and talk-shows in the national television channels 1+1, NTN, 1st national channel, STB, Hovi kanal, 5 channel; and published on the Internet on the websites, Korrespondent and Obozrevatel, as well as several others. The amount of informational material, TV news reports, and films from abroad was considerably higher.
Some of the events that attracted the interest of Ukrainian journalists were these: an attempt to hold a gay pride parade in Moscow in May, an open letter from Ukrainian organizations of lesbians and gays to government authorities, officials' answers to this letter, campaigns and addresses related to the "Love Against Homosexuality" movement, and statements from priests about related problems. One of the principal topics which interested the media was same-sex marriages.
As a whole, journalists of print and TV mass-media presented information objectively and allowed all sides to present their opinion. Publications on the Internet more often only reflected one side or the other depending on the opinion of its owners.
IV. Authorities
In the summer of 2006, Ukrainian public and charitable organizations for gays and lesbians sent an open letterto the President of the country and to other top authorities. In the letter we described the problems that homosexuals face in Ukraine, and consolidated a list of questions which need to be solved on legislative levels. In particular, we made these demands:
· to introduce a legislative prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in all spheres of public life;
· to legalise civil partnership for people of homosexual orientation;
· to grant homosexual families the whole range of social and economic rights on a par with heterosexual married couples;
· to recognise as valid same-sex marriages between citizens of Ukraine or between citizens of Ukraine and foreigners, lawfully contracted in another country, as well civil partnerships, lawfully registered abroad;
· to introduce state-level programs of social support for gays and lesbians;
· to take into account the rights and needs of gays and lesbians while drafting and implementing normative and legislative acts.
Below are excerpts from the official answers that we received
Ministry of Ukraine in the Affairs of Family, Youth and Sports (on behalf of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine):
"First of all it is necessary to establish as fact that preconceived attitudes towards gays and lesbians on the basis of their sexual orientation exist in Ukraine.
Ukraine needs to work out the state attitude towards the currently existing forms of matrimony and living together when forming and realising the family policy of the state. In particular we need to take into account the necessity of legalising same-sex marriages with regard to the adoption of international documents, in which the recognition of such marriages is bound to the possibility of joining the European community.
However, for complete and in-depth study of public opinion concerning the recognition of same sex marriages and the legalisation of civil partnerships for people of homosexual orientation in Ukraine, we consider it essential to bring this issue to public discussion".
Ministry of Justice of Ukraine:
"Regarding the legislative changes for the protection of sexual minorities, we point out that for this it is necessary to determine a clear subject of legal regulation, <...> looking for an alternative to legal ways of solving existing problems".
Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine:
"We inform, that in the draft of the Labour Code of Ukraine it is foreseen to prohibit any discrimination in the sphere of labour, in particular <...> on the basis of <...> sexual orientation".
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine:
"Taking into account international legal norms and the necessity to bring national legislation in line with the European standards, to the requirement expounded in the letter relating to the recognition in Ukraine of same sex marriages between the citizens of Ukraine or between the citizens of Ukraine and foreigners which were justly concluded in other state, and also the justly registered abroad civil partnerships, on the whole there is no objection.
We hope that bills, which deal with the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and foresee criminal responsibility for discriminatory actions, and which are being considered by the Supreme Council of Ukraine, will be passed in the nearest future, and that they will diffuse the contention around these matters.
At the same time, it follows that according to part 1 of article 58 of the law of Ukraine: "About international private rights" from June 23, 2004, "marriages between citizens of Ukraine, marriages between citizens of Ukraine and foreigners, and marriages between citizens of Ukraine and people without citizenship, which are concluded outside the borders of Ukraine in accordance with the rights of the foreign state, are valid in Ukraine on condition that the compliances regarding the citizen of Ukraine meet the requirements of the Family Code of Ukraine concerning invalidity of marriage"
Ministry of Defence of Ukraine:
"The necessity of adopting <...> actions against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation on the whole is perceived with understanding by military personnel.
That is why one of directions of activity within the organs of military management has to be <...> preventing cases of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation".
Also in 2006, several politicians expressed their own opinions about homosexuality. Some examples follow below.
In November, 2006 the head of the Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations of the Supreme Council of Ukraine communist Mr. Leonid Grach in an interview given to the Ukrainian issue of Commersant newspaper stated that "homosexuality is an anomaly, which is caused by the amorality and the depravity of man. And, although the rights for such people are indeed necessary to be protected, society will consider them as renegades". He expressed confidence that the present Parliament will not vote for a law legalizing same-sex families and letting them adopt children. According to his opinion, in the next Parliament this question will not be raised at all, "and we (in Ukraine) will have a healthy society".
The same opinion was expressed by the MP Socialists Nikolai Danilin and Ivan Bondarchyk. In answer to the "Love Against Homosexuality" movement, Danilin wrote to them that "On the instructions of the leader of Socialist party group I took up your address to all political parties regarding the anti-societal and anti-state demands of sexual minorities. Personally, I won't support political ideas and demands of homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people. I believe that we need to protect the family and spiritual values of Ukrainian society".
Commenting on the issue of same-sex marriage in Ukraine, Tatyana Ezhova, the minister of youth, families, and gender politics of Crimea, said: "On the one hand, as a person who grew up under Soviet power, I don't approve of this. On the other hand, as a politician who lives in modern times, I understand that the issue is unavoidable. There's a saying which I support: 'if you can't stop it, then you need to lead it or legalize it'. This is what has happened in Ukraine! I believe that it should thus be accepted," she concluded.
In an interview in the paper Sevodnya, Dimitri Tabachnik, the vice-prime minister who handles humanitarian issues for the government of Viktor Yanikovitch, assessing the possibility of legalizing same-sex marriages in Ukraine stated the following: "If such a bill will appear in Ukraine, then according to the traditions of this Christian country, it will seem at the least, strange".
On December 14, 2006, this question was asked to the head of state during an Internet conference: "What do you think about the legalization of same-sex marriages in Ukraine?" President Victor Yushenko didn't give a direct answer, but he didn’t deny the existence of a problem: "Can I answer in one word? – Complicated". He added, "Though by this I would not like to give a differing opinion from that which is given by the society and law".
In conclusion, we must take note that the letters received from the Ukrainian ministers show marked progress in the official position of the state regarding sexual minorities. Authorities don't deny that there is a problem in this sphere and that it should be solved. However, there is still a huge divide between the cautious declarations represented here and real actions.
At the present time in Ukraine, there are no actual legislation acts that mention sexual orientation or gender identity.
VI. Rights of homosexuals
Throughout the year, we continued to monitor observance of rights of homosexual people in our country. We did not receive information about serious incidents.
An analysis of the documented cases of violations of rights shows that LBGT people have problems the most often in personal relationships (with family, neighbors, and strangers), at work, and in interactions with law-enforcement authorities. In diagram 2 is displayed the rights violation statistics from 2000 - 2006. Very often these types of violations occur: psychological abuse, insults, threats, blackmail, and even physical violence and sexual harassment.
Throughout the year Nash Mir received messages from gays that regional subdivisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (police) continue to keep and use 'albums' in which confidential information about local homosexuals is collected. These 'albums' contain personal facts, contact information, photos and fingerprints.
Following are some examples of these incidents from 2006.
1)
On July 23 in Nikolaev, three unknown men forced their way into the apartment of gay couple, Oleg and Andriy. The attackers threatened them with weapons, insulted and humiliated them, and beat them badly. Fortunately, they were able to escape from the apartment and made enough noise in the corridor that the neighbors called the police. When the attackers heard all the commotion, they fled the scene, successfully stealing two mobile phones. Obviously, the motive of the attack was personal property theft.
During the resulting investigation, the police came across Pavel, who is also gay. On August 30 around 11pm, the police took Pavel from his home in handcuffs and led him to the police station where he spent the night. According to his account, the policemen insulted and humiliated him there. Pavel was later proved not guilty, and only then did the authorities began to treat him better. They recorded his testimony, took his photo and fingerprints, and released him.
Although Pavel endured several difficult hours at the police station, he didn't press charges or pursue any legal action against the police. He said that in general he thinks about police actions with understanding, because "they should catch the criminal".
2)
This incident happened in one of the regional centers in Ukraine. In this city Alexander for some time has organized and led discos for gays and lesbians. Announcements about a New Year's party at the beginning of 2006 were posted on one of websites for LGBT people. Alexander's contact telephone was also listed in the announcement.
On November 2, a girl who named herself as a lesbian called him and said that she wanted to get a ticket to the party. They agreed to meet in a city park the next day. Alexander and his girlfriend, Oksana, went to the meeting where the young girl was waiting.
After talking for a minute, two men walked up to them. They identified themselves as SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) agents, showed their identification badges, and asked Alexander and Oksana to come with them to the SBU station.
At the station, Alexander and Oksana were led to two different rooms where the agents began to take down their testimony. As they were interrogating Alexander, they used psychological abuse in the form of humiliation and insulted him with foul language. During all this, they said things like "gays don’t have the right to live on Earth", and "they should be isolated and sent to Siberia". Alexander kept silent and protected himself and the LGBT community.
Afterwards, the SBU agents insisted that Alexander collaborate with them, but he refused. They told him that they would interfere with the parties and discos for homosexuals and then threatened and insulted him again. Alexander was then finally released after more than five hours.
Oksana was scared by the threats from the agents that they would spread rumors about her sexual orientation and stopped communicating with Alexander and other homosexual friends after this incident
3)
Twenty-eight year-old Evgeniy lives in a village in the Cherkasy area. A few years ago, he got married and had a baby. Not long afterwards, he separated from his wife and got custody of their baby. Evgeniy has bad vision, and his baby was blind from birth.
Evgeniy is gay and, in his own words, not masculine enough according to village norms. His countrymen always insulted and humiliated him. In the summer of 2006, five drunk men accosted him, pushed him to the ground, broke his glasses, and beat him.
Surviving, he called the police who, in his words, "came, laughed, and left", since he could not identify any of the men with his broken glasses. Evgeniy complains that because of the constant psychological abuse, he wants to kill himself. Only the thought that his young son can't survive without his father stops him.
4)
Leonid and Slava, a gay couple, have lived together in a village for 14 years in the Donetsk area. On November 18, 2006, there were on the television program, "Unbelievable Love Stories", on one of the main TV channels. On this night, an unknown person threw a stone through their window, breaking the glass and damaging the frame.
5)
Roman, 36, was found stabbed to death with a knife in the middle of August, 2006 in his apartment that he rented in Dontesk. Roman was head engineer at one of the city factories and earned a good salary. Expensive things were stolen from his apartment. During the investigation, it became known that Roman communicated with male strangers on the WAP-Internet.
Later, the police found and arrested the murderer – Stanislav, 23, a worker at the factory. According to Stanislav, he was interested in many homosexual sites on the WAP-Internet and made a plan to meet with rich gays to steal from them. Although he himself was not a sexual minority, Stanislav posted a personals ad on the Internet and received a few responses. In the resulting Internet communications with several respondents, he decided to choose Roman to be his victim because he seemed to be the most wealthy.
Roman invited Stanislav to his apartment. They drank, and then Stanislav took a knife from the kitchen and killed Roman with a few blows.
Unfortunately, homosexuals very often do not speak out about violations of their rights, because they are afraid to be open about their sexual orientation as openness can lead to homophobic reactions and even more violence against them. This is why information about discrimination and hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation often remains hidden.
VII. LGBT community
In 2006, there weren't any significant changes in the Ukrainian LGBT community. The community, however, is more noticeable in the big cities, especially in the capital, where there are more freedoms and possibilities. To enjoy these qualities of lifestyle is why so many gays and lesbians want to move to Kiev from the provinces.
In several big cities there are some entertainment establishments for homosexuals. Most famous are these clubs: "Androgin", "Pomada", and "Kiber" in Kiev; "California" in Donetsk; "Drive" in Kharkov; and "Tema" and "Chernomorez" in Odessa. In a few cities activists through their own initiatives have led "themed" parties.
People are using the Internet more often as their main source for information, acquaintanceships, and communications regarding LGBT issues. There are two specialized publications for them – the newspaper Gay.Ua, and the magazine, Odyn z Nas.
Currently in Ukraine there exist a small number of public and charitable organizations for gays and lesbians, as well as HIV-service organizations which deal with these target groups. Their main sources of funding are from foreign donors, and most of the projects focus on HIV prevention and solving other concomitant problems.
We think that homosexuals are one of the most marginalized, secretive, and misunderstood groups of people in Ukrainian society.
The number of homosexual people in Ukraine by our estimations is more then one million persons. According to official estimations by UNAIDS done in 2005, the number of men having sex with men in our country totals from 177 to 430 thousand people.
VIII. Other issues
In this section, we bring to light questions which do not have direct connection to this report, but still are important for certain parts of our target group.
Since the spring of 2003, Nash Mir has published the newspaper Gay.Ua. In this publication is information, entertainment, and erotic material for gays and lesbians. The newspaper is sent to subscribers by mail in opaque envelopes. Our readers' opinions make it obligatory for this specialized outlet to have homoerotic stories and illustrations.
At the end of 2003 in Ukraine, a law was passed titled "Protection of Public Morality". In the spring of 2006, according to this law the National Expert Commission of Ukraine on Protection of Public Morality started its work.
According to the law, this commission conducted an investigation of Gay.Ua newspaper. In its conclusion the Expert Commission stated that some material in the publication was of a pornographic nature. In particular, it was stated: "The articles and pictures placed in the newspaper have a primitive subject, the unique purpose of which is to cause sexual arousal among the users of such products through the demonstration of crudely naturalistic sexual intercourse, detailed images of excited genitalia, description of oral and anal sex, masturbation, and ejaculation".
The Law of Ukraine "Protection of Public Morality" determines pornography as "vulgarly naturalistic, cynical, obscene fixing of sexual intercourse, as an end in itself, special demonstration of genitalia, anti-ethical scenes of sexual intercourse, sexual perversions, drawings from nature, which do not correspond to moral criteria, do hurt the honour and dignity of a person, and induce base instincts".
In Article 2 it is said that the "making and circulation in any form of products of a pornographic character is forbidden in Ukraine".
In Article 11 it says that "selling and distribution of printed goods <...> of erotic nature is only allowed with the approval of the National Expert Commission of Ukraine on Protection of Public Morality <...>.
Article 21: "Violation of the norms of legislation of Ukraine according to the protection of social morals and distribution of products which contain elements of pornography, will result in civil, disciplinarian, administrative, and criminal prosecution under existing legislation".
In the Criminal Code of Ukraine is Article 301, "Imported, manufactured, and distributed pornographic subjects". Manufacturing and distributing pornographic goods provides [entails] a jail term of up to three years. For the same actions performed by a group, the jail term is 3 to 7 years.
In our opinion, the existing situation violates Nash Mir's rights and the rights of the readers of Gay.Ua to free access to information. In particular, it contradicts Article 34 of the Constitution of Ukraine which states that "Everyone has the right to freely collect, store, use and disseminate information by oral, written or other means of his or her choice". Further, this situation contradicts part 1, Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers".
This question was brought to court by Nash Mir, and is currently being considered there.
Nash Mir (Our World) Gay and Lesbian Centre (www.gay.org.ua)
I. Introduction
Our public organization has followed the situation of homosexual people in Ukraine for a number of years now. We collect information about society's attitudes towards gays and lesbians, keep track of related issues in the media, monitor observance of homosexual rights, and watch the position of the country's authorities in regards to this issue. Nash Mir has already conducted specialized research and made several reports about these various topics in the past.
Now we have decided to make annual reports based on collected information. They will be circulated to Ukrainian and international organizations that deal with human rights. The information reflected in this document can be used in other reports concerning human rights in Ukraine.
II. Society
In December 2006, the Kiev International Institute of Sociology conducted a poll on how societal attitudes towards gays have been changing for the last 15 years. Their findings showed that although the level of homophobia had slightly fallen from 34.9 % in 1991 to 28.5 % in 2006, the number of Ukrainian citizens who experience fear and unreasoned hatred against homosexuals is still too big (diagram 1). The number of Ukrainians who see gays as normal has nearly not changed at all (33.7 % in 1991 to 33.3 % in 2006). On the other hand, the number of those who neither agree nor disagree that gays should have equal rights has doubled (8.9 % in 1991 to 16.3 % in 2006). Based on these data, it’s possible to draw the conclusion that Ukrainian society is becoming, although fairly slowly, more tolerant towards homosexuals.
In 2006, the so-called public initiative "Love Against Homosexuality" continued their appearances. Specifically, on September 9, these groups organized a street protest in the center of Kiev in which 50 people – neo-Protestants, Orthodox, and Catholic church-goers – took part. Later, organizers of the movement appealed to Ukrainian political parties to express their own attitude towards homosexuals and urged them to condemn this phenomenon.
III. The Churches
C) In November 2006 the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations published an open letter about same-sex unions (registered partnership). In particular, it was stated that: "The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations representing the main Christian, Jewish and Muslim confessions of Ukraine, propose that the Supreme Council of Ukraine clearly and unequivocally fix in the laws of our state that a family can only be established by a man and a woman.
Family, as a union of man and woman, is set by God.
<...> The experience of countries which register same-sex marriages or partnerships shows that the process of liberalising public morals by the state ends in abyss. Where prostitution and drug addiction, same-sex marriages and euthanasia are legalized, there is already a question about the legalization of paedophilia. At the same time such states suffer most from a demographic crisis and spiritual degradation. Already in the near future, extinction threatens the native population of these countries. We do not want Ukraine to go this way."
IV. Media
In 2006, the national media repeatedly covered topics related to homosexuals. We gathered not less than fifty instances in print and television news where issues related to Ukrainian gays and lesbians were mentioned. These articles were in the newspapers Sevodnya, Commersant-Ukraine, Facti, Kiev Post, and Ekonomicheskiye ezvestia; broadcast in reports and talk-shows in the national television channels 1+1, NTN, 1st national channel, STB, Hovi kanal, 5 channel; and published on the Internet on the websites, Korrespondent and Obozrevatel, as well as several others. The amount of informational material, TV news reports, and films from abroad was considerably higher.
Some of the events that attracted the interest of Ukrainian journalists were these: an attempt to hold a gay pride parade in Moscow in May, an open letter from Ukrainian organizations of lesbians and gays to government authorities, officials' answers to this letter, campaigns and addresses related to the "Love Against Homosexuality" movement, and statements from priests about related problems. One of the principal topics which interested the media was same-sex marriages.
As a whole, journalists of print and TV mass-media presented information objectively and allowed all sides to present their opinion. Publications on the Internet more often only reflected one side or the other depending on the opinion of its owners.
IV. Authorities
In the summer of 2006, Ukrainian public and charitable organizations for gays and lesbians sent an open letterto the President of the country and to other top authorities. In the letter we described the problems that homosexuals face in Ukraine, and consolidated a list of questions which need to be solved on legislative levels. In particular, we made these demands:
· to introduce a legislative prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in all spheres of public life;
· to legalise civil partnership for people of homosexual orientation;
· to grant homosexual families the whole range of social and economic rights on a par with heterosexual married couples;
· to recognise as valid same-sex marriages between citizens of Ukraine or between citizens of Ukraine and foreigners, lawfully contracted in another country, as well civil partnerships, lawfully registered abroad;
· to introduce state-level programs of social support for gays and lesbians;
· to take into account the rights and needs of gays and lesbians while drafting and implementing normative and legislative acts.
Below are excerpts from the official answers that we received
Ministry of Ukraine in the Affairs of Family, Youth and Sports (on behalf of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine):
"First of all it is necessary to establish as fact that preconceived attitudes towards gays and lesbians on the basis of their sexual orientation exist in Ukraine.
Ukraine needs to work out the state attitude towards the currently existing forms of matrimony and living together when forming and realising the family policy of the state. In particular we need to take into account the necessity of legalising same-sex marriages with regard to the adoption of international documents, in which the recognition of such marriages is bound to the possibility of joining the European community.
However, for complete and in-depth study of public opinion concerning the recognition of same sex marriages and the legalisation of civil partnerships for people of homosexual orientation in Ukraine, we consider it essential to bring this issue to public discussion".
Ministry of Justice of Ukraine:
"Regarding the legislative changes for the protection of sexual minorities, we point out that for this it is necessary to determine a clear subject of legal regulation, <...> looking for an alternative to legal ways of solving existing problems".
Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine:
"We inform, that in the draft of the Labour Code of Ukraine it is foreseen to prohibit any discrimination in the sphere of labour, in particular <...> on the basis of <...> sexual orientation".
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine:
"Taking into account international legal norms and the necessity to bring national legislation in line with the European standards, to the requirement expounded in the letter relating to the recognition in Ukraine of same sex marriages between the citizens of Ukraine or between the citizens of Ukraine and foreigners which were justly concluded in other state, and also the justly registered abroad civil partnerships, on the whole there is no objection.
We hope that bills, which deal with the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and foresee criminal responsibility for discriminatory actions, and which are being considered by the Supreme Council of Ukraine, will be passed in the nearest future, and that they will diffuse the contention around these matters.
At the same time, it follows that according to part 1 of article 58 of the law of Ukraine: "About international private rights" from June 23, 2004, "marriages between citizens of Ukraine, marriages between citizens of Ukraine and foreigners, and marriages between citizens of Ukraine and people without citizenship, which are concluded outside the borders of Ukraine in accordance with the rights of the foreign state, are valid in Ukraine on condition that the compliances regarding the citizen of Ukraine meet the requirements of the Family Code of Ukraine concerning invalidity of marriage"
Ministry of Defence of Ukraine:
"The necessity of adopting <...> actions against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation on the whole is perceived with understanding by military personnel.
That is why one of directions of activity within the organs of military management has to be <...> preventing cases of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation".
Also in 2006, several politicians expressed their own opinions about homosexuality. Some examples follow below.
In November, 2006 the head of the Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations of the Supreme Council of Ukraine communist Mr. Leonid Grach in an interview given to the Ukrainian issue of Commersant newspaper stated that "homosexuality is an anomaly, which is caused by the amorality and the depravity of man. And, although the rights for such people are indeed necessary to be protected, society will consider them as renegades". He expressed confidence that the present Parliament will not vote for a law legalizing same-sex families and letting them adopt children. According to his opinion, in the next Parliament this question will not be raised at all, "and we (in Ukraine) will have a healthy society".
The same opinion was expressed by the MP Socialists Nikolai Danilin and Ivan Bondarchyk. In answer to the "Love Against Homosexuality" movement, Danilin wrote to them that "On the instructions of the leader of Socialist party group I took up your address to all political parties regarding the anti-societal and anti-state demands of sexual minorities. Personally, I won't support political ideas and demands of homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people. I believe that we need to protect the family and spiritual values of Ukrainian society".
Commenting on the issue of same-sex marriage in Ukraine, Tatyana Ezhova, the minister of youth, families, and gender politics of Crimea, said: "On the one hand, as a person who grew up under Soviet power, I don't approve of this. On the other hand, as a politician who lives in modern times, I understand that the issue is unavoidable. There's a saying which I support: 'if you can't stop it, then you need to lead it or legalize it'. This is what has happened in Ukraine! I believe that it should thus be accepted," she concluded.
In an interview in the paper Sevodnya, Dimitri Tabachnik, the vice-prime minister who handles humanitarian issues for the government of Viktor Yanikovitch, assessing the possibility of legalizing same-sex marriages in Ukraine stated the following: "If such a bill will appear in Ukraine, then according to the traditions of this Christian country, it will seem at the least, strange".
On December 14, 2006, this question was asked to the head of state during an Internet conference: "What do you think about the legalization of same-sex marriages in Ukraine?" President Victor Yushenko didn't give a direct answer, but he didn’t deny the existence of a problem: "Can I answer in one word? – Complicated". He added, "Though by this I would not like to give a differing opinion from that which is given by the society and law".
In conclusion, we must take note that the letters received from the Ukrainian ministers show marked progress in the official position of the state regarding sexual minorities. Authorities don't deny that there is a problem in this sphere and that it should be solved. However, there is still a huge divide between the cautious declarations represented here and real actions.
At the present time in Ukraine, there are no actual legislation acts that mention sexual orientation or gender identity.
VI. Rights of homosexuals
Throughout the year, we continued to monitor observance of rights of homosexual people in our country. We did not receive information about serious incidents.
An analysis of the documented cases of violations of rights shows that LBGT people have problems the most often in personal relationships (with family, neighbors, and strangers), at work, and in interactions with law-enforcement authorities. In diagram 2 is displayed the rights violation statistics from 2000 - 2006. Very often these types of violations occur: psychological abuse, insults, threats, blackmail, and even physical violence and sexual harassment.
Throughout the year Nash Mir received messages from gays that regional subdivisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (police) continue to keep and use 'albums' in which confidential information about local homosexuals is collected. These 'albums' contain personal facts, contact information, photos and fingerprints.
Following are some examples of these incidents from 2006.
1)
On July 23 in Nikolaev, three unknown men forced their way into the apartment of gay couple, Oleg and Andriy. The attackers threatened them with weapons, insulted and humiliated them, and beat them badly. Fortunately, they were able to escape from the apartment and made enough noise in the corridor that the neighbors called the police. When the attackers heard all the commotion, they fled the scene, successfully stealing two mobile phones. Obviously, the motive of the attack was personal property theft.
During the resulting investigation, the police came across Pavel, who is also gay. On August 30 around 11pm, the police took Pavel from his home in handcuffs and led him to the police station where he spent the night. According to his account, the policemen insulted and humiliated him there. Pavel was later proved not guilty, and only then did the authorities began to treat him better. They recorded his testimony, took his photo and fingerprints, and released him.
Although Pavel endured several difficult hours at the police station, he didn't press charges or pursue any legal action against the police. He said that in general he thinks about police actions with understanding, because "they should catch the criminal".
2)
This incident happened in one of the regional centers in Ukraine. In this city Alexander for some time has organized and led discos for gays and lesbians. Announcements about a New Year's party at the beginning of 2006 were posted on one of websites for LGBT people. Alexander's contact telephone was also listed in the announcement.
On November 2, a girl who named herself as a lesbian called him and said that she wanted to get a ticket to the party. They agreed to meet in a city park the next day. Alexander and his girlfriend, Oksana, went to the meeting where the young girl was waiting.
After talking for a minute, two men walked up to them. They identified themselves as SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) agents, showed their identification badges, and asked Alexander and Oksana to come with them to the SBU station.
At the station, Alexander and Oksana were led to two different rooms where the agents began to take down their testimony. As they were interrogating Alexander, they used psychological abuse in the form of humiliation and insulted him with foul language. During all this, they said things like "gays don’t have the right to live on Earth", and "they should be isolated and sent to Siberia". Alexander kept silent and protected himself and the LGBT community.
Afterwards, the SBU agents insisted that Alexander collaborate with them, but he refused. They told him that they would interfere with the parties and discos for homosexuals and then threatened and insulted him again. Alexander was then finally released after more than five hours.
Oksana was scared by the threats from the agents that they would spread rumors about her sexual orientation and stopped communicating with Alexander and other homosexual friends after this incident
3)
Twenty-eight year-old Evgeniy lives in a village in the Cherkasy area. A few years ago, he got married and had a baby. Not long afterwards, he separated from his wife and got custody of their baby. Evgeniy has bad vision, and his baby was blind from birth.
Evgeniy is gay and, in his own words, not masculine enough according to village norms. His countrymen always insulted and humiliated him. In the summer of 2006, five drunk men accosted him, pushed him to the ground, broke his glasses, and beat him.
Surviving, he called the police who, in his words, "came, laughed, and left", since he could not identify any of the men with his broken glasses. Evgeniy complains that because of the constant psychological abuse, he wants to kill himself. Only the thought that his young son can't survive without his father stops him.
4)
Leonid and Slava, a gay couple, have lived together in a village for 14 years in the Donetsk area. On November 18, 2006, there were on the television program, "Unbelievable Love Stories", on one of the main TV channels. On this night, an unknown person threw a stone through their window, breaking the glass and damaging the frame.
5)
Roman, 36, was found stabbed to death with a knife in the middle of August, 2006 in his apartment that he rented in Dontesk. Roman was head engineer at one of the city factories and earned a good salary. Expensive things were stolen from his apartment. During the investigation, it became known that Roman communicated with male strangers on the WAP-Internet.
Later, the police found and arrested the murderer – Stanislav, 23, a worker at the factory. According to Stanislav, he was interested in many homosexual sites on the WAP-Internet and made a plan to meet with rich gays to steal from them. Although he himself was not a sexual minority, Stanislav posted a personals ad on the Internet and received a few responses. In the resulting Internet communications with several respondents, he decided to choose Roman to be his victim because he seemed to be the most wealthy.
Roman invited Stanislav to his apartment. They drank, and then Stanislav took a knife from the kitchen and killed Roman with a few blows.
Unfortunately, homosexuals very often do not speak out about violations of their rights, because they are afraid to be open about their sexual orientation as openness can lead to homophobic reactions and even more violence against them. This is why information about discrimination and hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation often remains hidden.
VII. LGBT community
In 2006, there weren't any significant changes in the Ukrainian LGBT community. The community, however, is more noticeable in the big cities, especially in the capital, where there are more freedoms and possibilities. To enjoy these qualities of lifestyle is why so many gays and lesbians want to move to Kiev from the provinces.
In several big cities there are some entertainment establishments for homosexuals. Most famous are these clubs: "Androgin", "Pomada", and "Kiber" in Kiev; "California" in Donetsk; "Drive" in Kharkov; and "Tema" and "Chernomorez" in Odessa. In a few cities activists through their own initiatives have led "themed" parties.
People are using the Internet more often as their main source for information, acquaintanceships, and communications regarding LGBT issues. There are two specialized publications for them – the newspaper Gay.Ua, and the magazine, Odyn z Nas.
Currently in Ukraine there exist a small number of public and charitable organizations for gays and lesbians, as well as HIV-service organizations which deal with these target groups. Their main sources of funding are from foreign donors, and most of the projects focus on HIV prevention and solving other concomitant problems.
We think that homosexuals are one of the most marginalized, secretive, and misunderstood groups of people in Ukrainian society.
The number of homosexual people in Ukraine by our estimations is more then one million persons. According to official estimations by UNAIDS done in 2005, the number of men having sex with men in our country totals from 177 to 430 thousand people.
VIII. Other issues
In this section, we bring to light questions which do not have direct connection to this report, but still are important for certain parts of our target group.
Since the spring of 2003, Nash Mir has published the newspaper Gay.Ua. In this publication is information, entertainment, and erotic material for gays and lesbians. The newspaper is sent to subscribers by mail in opaque envelopes. Our readers' opinions make it obligatory for this specialized outlet to have homoerotic stories and illustrations.
At the end of 2003 in Ukraine, a law was passed titled "Protection of Public Morality". In the spring of 2006, according to this law the National Expert Commission of Ukraine on Protection of Public Morality started its work.
According to the law, this commission conducted an investigation of Gay.Ua newspaper. In its conclusion the Expert Commission stated that some material in the publication was of a pornographic nature. In particular, it was stated: "The articles and pictures placed in the newspaper have a primitive subject, the unique purpose of which is to cause sexual arousal among the users of such products through the demonstration of crudely naturalistic sexual intercourse, detailed images of excited genitalia, description of oral and anal sex, masturbation, and ejaculation".
The Law of Ukraine "Protection of Public Morality" determines pornography as "vulgarly naturalistic, cynical, obscene fixing of sexual intercourse, as an end in itself, special demonstration of genitalia, anti-ethical scenes of sexual intercourse, sexual perversions, drawings from nature, which do not correspond to moral criteria, do hurt the honour and dignity of a person, and induce base instincts".
In Article 2 it is said that the "making and circulation in any form of products of a pornographic character is forbidden in Ukraine".
In Article 11 it says that "selling and distribution of printed goods <...> of erotic nature is only allowed with the approval of the National Expert Commission of Ukraine on Protection of Public Morality <...>.
Article 21: "Violation of the norms of legislation of Ukraine according to the protection of social morals and distribution of products which contain elements of pornography, will result in civil, disciplinarian, administrative, and criminal prosecution under existing legislation".
In the Criminal Code of Ukraine is Article 301, "Imported, manufactured, and distributed pornographic subjects". Manufacturing and distributing pornographic goods provides [entails] a jail term of up to three years. For the same actions performed by a group, the jail term is 3 to 7 years.
In our opinion, the existing situation violates Nash Mir's rights and the rights of the readers of Gay.Ua to free access to information. In particular, it contradicts Article 34 of the Constitution of Ukraine which states that "Everyone has the right to freely collect, store, use and disseminate information by oral, written or other means of his or her choice". Further, this situation contradicts part 1, Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers".
This question was brought to court by Nash Mir, and is currently being considered there.
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