Stuck in a political wilderness
When millions of people cannot make ends meet, who considers discussing such things [as gay rights] in Parliament? said former Ukrainian president Leonid Kravchuk in 1999.
L’viv-raised Val, 30, believes the Ukrainian Government is wise not to discuss social legislation at this time.
There are more things to take care of including the potential threat from Russia. I am sympathetic to these other issues, said Val, who has been lecturing in economics in Sydney since 2006.
Ukraine received independence from the USSR on December 1 1991. Twelve days later Ukraine became the first former Soviet republic to legalise homosexuality by amending Article 122 to provide punishment only for homosexual contact that involves violence.
Val believes the reason lay with Ukraine looking away from its historic association with Russia, and looking towards the rest of Europe.
Since this initial gesture, the Ukrainian Government has made few other concessions towards its gay and lesbian population.
The Government is indifferent on the issue. Politicians are conservative but also play to the mood of the people, Val said.
Homosexuality amongst Ukrainian society is seen as something strange. Only thirty-four per cent believe gay people should have equal rights.
Many Ukrainians don’t understand homosexuality because they have never been exposed to the concept. One exception is the drag character Verka Serduchka, a flamboyant train conductor who came second in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest.
Verka had a very popular televi-sion show but she wasn’t presented as a drag queen. Some people didn’t even know, said Val.
Activist groups in Ukraine appear to be extremely organised and use official channels in their attempt to change society’s views on homosexuality. Ukraine hosted the first gay conference in Eastern Europe in 2000.
In 2005, Ukraine again hosted a gay conference entitled Our World: Extending the Borders, attended by representatives of 16 Central and Eastern European nations.
Following the conference, the delegates sent a letter to their respective governments calling for legislative norms forbidding discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and implementation of -¦ registered partnerships for same-sex couples.
To date, these recommendations have not been adopted in Ukraine.
Val is sceptical regarding some gay activist organisations.
Many of these organisation are fuelled by western money, and compete for grants. There are clashes between these organisations over who is most eligible for the grant, he said.
Discrimination has recently surfaced in Kiev. Nash Mir, a gay organisation, produces a magazine entitled Gay.Ua. A Ukraine Commission on Public Morality ruled that the magazine is pornographic. In February the public prosecutor instigated criminal proceedings.
Nash Mir’s staff appealed to international and European gay rights groups, who responded with a letter to Ukraine’s president stating Ukraine is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Government will lose this case. They don’t want to have a negative image in Europe, said Val.
There is a significant push by Ukraine to join the EU.
The Ukrainian Government is aware of how powerful the gay issue may become. The Ministry of Family wrote in 2006 -¦ recognition of such [same-sex] marriages is bound to the possibility of joining the European community.
