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Gay Ukraine
Ukraine Culture: Gay Ukraine
Gay Life In Ukraine
Background
Ukraine has been a major hub of Slavic and Cossack culture since the end of the Middle Ages: a ramrod straight beginning, one would imagine - at least during daylight hours. The country broke from the harshly homophobic Soviet Union in 1991 after 68 years. Even towards the end of that time gay rights were unheard of, let alone recognized. As a symbol of how far the Ukraine has come since that time, we can look to Serhiy Holovaty, the Ukrainian Minister of Justice in 1995-1997 and in 2005-2006, who, while not openly asserting his homosexuality, has never denied being gay.
But Holovaty is a brave exception to the general state of affairs of things gay in Ukraine. Two-thirds of Ukrainians profess to be members of the Orthodox church, and the power of orthodoxy goes further than religion. Ukraine is profoundly conservative in nearly all aspects of life, and standing out from the crowd is an unwritten cardinal sin. Add to this the explicit strictures against homosexuality of the Orthodox Church, and you have a powerful deterrent to sexual freedom.
Public displays of same sex affection remain largely unacceptable in Ukrainian society, which lags far behind the West in tolerance and only slightly ahead of vehemently anti-gay Russia.
Present Day
Nevertheless, legally speaking, the situation in the Ukraine is more hopeful. Homosexuality was decriminalized as soon as Ukraine left the Soviet Union, and the nation's constitution guarantees equal rights for all - although it does not specifically guarantee freedom from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
For example, as recently as May 2009, the judiciary (no less!) in Mykolayiv, a city of half a million in southern Ukraine, prohibited the planned celebration of a planned gay and lesbian Rainbow Spring Festival. Members of the organizing body, LiGA, were physically threatened, to the point of having to hire full-time security.
Gay scene in Ukraine
Even in the capital, Kiev, the gay scene is by no means vibrant and out. Commonsense and caution are your best friends when having a gay of it here and anywhere else in Ukraine. Odesa in the summer and Kharkiv have small, but nascent scenes.
Kiev
Kiev is the capital of Ukraine, with a population of 2.5 million. Being the capital, and the largest, city in Ukraine, it is somewhat more sophisticated and less gay-unfriendly than the rest of the country.
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