The Russian invasion has created a dichotomous environment for the LGBTQ community in Ukraine. The environment in sovereign portions of Ukraine is slightly improving for the LGBTQ community, but the situation is worsening in Russian-occupied areas. In the sovereign areas of Ukraine, there has been an uptick in pro-LGBTQ legal action and an increased tolerance toward LGBTQ individuals within society, while Russian-occupied areas have experienced the opposite. Ukraine seeks to differentiate itself from Russia and align itself closer to its Western allies and their ideologies while also supporting the LGBTQ individuals fighting for their homeland. However, Russia continues to implement anti-LGBTQ laws as it aims to remove any Western influence.
Sovereign Areas of Ukraine
Background
Before the invasion, Ukraine was mostly intolerant of the LGBTQ community. Ukraine’s predominately Orthodox and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church background heavily influenced society’s anti-LGBTQ perspective coupled with its Soviet past, continued Russian influence, and lingering anti-Western sentiment in pro-Russian political parties. While the latter has drastically decreased following the 2022 invasion, it has still made an impression on society regarding the LGBTQ community though it is diminishing. External pressures prompted legislative developments in favor of the LGBTQ community so Ukraine could grow relations with the West, namely with the EU. As Ukraine seeks to curry favor with its Western allies amid the war and distance itself from Russia, this remains true. However, many Ukrainians also now see a moral obligation to protect LGBTQ individuals as they all fight for a united cause to preserve the freedom of their country.
Legal Developments
Ukraine first made same-sex sexual acts legal in 1991 as part of its post-Soviet reformation, but same-sex marriage is not yet recognized and there are limited legal protections for LGBTQ individuals. However, there have been some pro-LGBTQ legal developments since the Russo-Ukrainian War began. The most recent occurred in March 2023 when Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) member and Holos party member Inna Sovsun proposed a draft law for same-sex couples to register for civil partnerships. This would allow same-sex couples to have many of the same rights as heterosexual couples, including those related to the ongoing war such as visiting an injured partner in the hospital or burying those killed in action. The bill has not yet passed but is an important development in furthering LGBTQ rights amid the war.
Other lawmakers view passing legislation beneficial to the LGBTQ community as a way to stand up to Russia and appeal to Ukraine’s Western allies. One such Verkhovna Rada member is Andrii Kozhemiakin. Kozhemiakin was a Soviet KGB spy and holds conservative religious and political views, stating that he has his own “personal opinion about LGBT people.” However, Kozhemiakin stands in favor of Sovsun’s draft law, saying “Anything that our enemy hates…I will support…If it will never exist in Russia, it should exist and be supported here, to show them and signal to them that we are different. This law is like a smile towards Europe and a middle finger to Russia. So, I support it.”
Social Tolerance
Social tolerance in Ukraine remains low but is increasing as the country feels compelled to support the LGBTQ individuals fighting for Ukraine’s freedom, while also distancing itself from its Russian-controlled past and current conflict. At least 10 percent of the LGBTQ community has fought beside their fellow Ukrainians throughout the war, which non-LGBTQ people have supported.
In ILGA-Europe’s 2022 Rainbow Map and Index, Ukraine was ranked 39 out of 49 European countries for LGBTQ rights, a slight increase from 2021’s ranking of 40 out of 49. A Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) poll from May 2022 shows decreased intolerance since the outbreak of the war with 38.2 percent of participants holding a negative view in 2022 compared to 60.4 percent in 2016. LGBTQ Group Nash Svit requested KIIS to perform the survey again in 2023 and the negative sentiment continued trending downward from 2022’s 38.2 percent to 33.9 percent.
This is highly likely attributed to the ongoing war, which LGBTQ activist Sofiia Lapina claims has made Ukrainians more tolerant of the LGBTQ community. According to her, “When the war started, Ukrainians generally and people on the front lines started to understand that homophobic rhetoric is a Russian discourse…Ukrainians don't want to be aligned with Russia and they see that homophobia is a Russian worldview.” Verkhova Rada member Sovsun expressed a similar view, stating “homophobia in Ukrainian society was a remnant of Russian and Soviet influence that needed to be discarded” regarding her previously mentioned bill.
Wartime Disruptions
Ukraine has a large and vibrant LGBTQ community and there are several LGBTQ groups operating in the country, but the war continues to disrupt their ability to assist. With the chaos of war, pro-LGBTQ groups are not able to function as they normally would in a stable environment. With Russians shelling and bombing urban areas – where LGBTQ groups are usually headquartered – they no longer have the facilities or other resources to help the LGBTQ community. Additionally, the internal displacement of persons within Ukraine and refugees fleeing to other countries, means that the staff and those they serve may not be available to gather or coordinate like before. While social media platforms and chat apps are likely to provide communication between the groups and community, this does not provide the level of support needed in normal times, must less during war. However, the harm caused by these disruptions to the LGBTQ community’s support systems would be mitigated should social intolerance continue to dissipate and additional legal protections be passed.
Russian-Occupied Areas of Ukraine
Background
Russian society does not widely accept the LGBTQ community and the Russian government continues to portray LGBTQ rights as being at odds with Russian “traditional values.” The Russian Orthodox Church, which denounces homosexuality, has played a role in influencing cultural attitudes regarding LGBTQ rights. This religious influence, along with anti-Western sentiment and carryover of Soviet anti-LGBTQ ideology, has contributed to societal intolerance. Since the 2022 invasion, Russia’s subsequent isolation from the international scene has reinforced its anti-Western views, including those related to the LGBTQ community, and intensified its “traditional values” as Russia attempts to present itself as a moral bastion against corrupted ideals.
Legal Developments
The legal situation for the LGBTQ community in Crimea and the Donbas region (Donetsk and Luhansk) began to worsen in 2014 after Russia’s first incursion into Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. From that point onward, Russia implemented and enforced its laws in Crimea, including its anti-LGBTQ propaganda law “On Protecting Children from Information Harmful to their Health and Development.”
While Putin officially annexed Donetsk and Luhansk, along with Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, in October 2022, Russia can only exercise its laws in territory under its control. Most of these lands remain in Ukrainian hands, therefore Russian laws have no jurisdiction there. That being said, the People’s Republic of Donetsk’s (DNR) and the People’s Republic of Luhansk’s (LNR) had previously passed their own anti-LGBTQ laws. Pro-Russian separatists established anti-gay “propaganda laws” nearly the same as Russia’s. On Oct. 2, 2015, the DNR passed the law Number 79-INS titled “On Protecting Children from Information Harmful to their Health and Development” which is a replica of Russia’s Number 436-FZ law with the same title. Article 5 of both the Russian and the DNR’s laws state minors cannot be exposed to information “rejecting family values” and “promoting non-traditional sexual relations.” On Nov. 6, 2015, the LNR drafted a similar law, Number 146-PZ/15, titled “On Amendments to the Law of the Luhansk People’s Republic ‘On Protecting Children from Information Harmful to the Health and Development’”, which added censoring “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships.” Finally, Russia has applied its labor laws, which do not fully prevent discrimination of LGBTQ individuals in the workplace, in Crimea, the DNR, and the LNR, preventing LGBTQ individuals from securing employment as in the rest of Ukraine.
Russia has recently passed a series of anti-LGBTQ laws including its newest and more expansive “propaganda laws” in November 2022, a ban on gender reassignments and gender affirming surgeries in June 2023, and a new requirement that goes into effect July 1, 2023, stipulating that healthcare facilities be staffed with sexologists to treat homosexuality and other sexual preferences that the Russian government deems unacceptable. Russia is likely to implement these laws in the DNR, LNR, and Crimea in the near term.
Social Tolerance
The invasion has triggered an increase in violence and discrimination against the LGBTQ community in Russian-controlled areas. While the LGBTQ community remains hidden as pro-LGBTQ groups and events are not permitted in Crimea, the DNR, or the LNR due to propaganda laws and local authorities’ enforcement, LGBTQ individuals have reported an increase in hate crimes throughout Crimea and the Donbas, particularly in the DNR, despite keeping a low profile.
According to the Anti-Discrimination Center Memorial, “Violence against LGBTI people became the norm and was encouraged by representatives of government structures” following the creation of the DNR and the LNR. Refugees from the DNR have reported an escalation in anti-LGBTQ behavior. Previously, anti-LGBTQ activity was limited to verbal harassment but has since intensified into physical attacks and threatening visits by armed individuals at night informing the LGBTQ residents that they are not welcome in the DNR. In the LNR, one LGBTQ individual claimed that “if they learn [about your orientation] at work, you’ll probably lose your job. There have been precedents for this.” Hate crimes have also occurred in Crimea. Most attacks in Crimea have targeted gay couples and, to a lesser extent, lesbian couples and anyone who appears as though they might be a member of the LGBTQ community such as having non-traditional piercings, nail polish color, and hair color, and wearing anything resembling a rainbow.
If Russia can take control of additional Ukrainian territory, it is almost certain that those areas will be subject to the implementation and enforcement of Russian anti-LGBTQ policies. Additionally, according to US Official Intelligence, the Russian government allegedly maintains a list of individuals and groups in Ukraine that would be gathered up either for assassination or relocation to work camps, including some members and supporters of the LGBTQ community. Should Russia succeed in acquiring additional territory, it will almost certainly worsen the situation for LGBTQ individuals in those areas.
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