Ukraine Now Open to Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage

KYIV, UKRAINE — (03-08-23) — Ukraine’s former deputy culture minister announced on Tuesday that Zelensky’s government is proposing to legalize same-sex civil partnerships, saying it would both reward the service of LGBTQ soldiers and please the European Union.

Inna Sovsun of the Golos party announced on Tuesday that she has submitted the same-sex civil partnership bill to the Verkhovna Rada for consideration.

“Legalization of single-sex relationships is very important to me now, because if I come home [dead], my partner can’t even bury me,” was one of the arguments from the Ukrainian LGBT Soldiers and Allies’ Facebook community that Sovsun quoted in announcing her bill.

The same-sex civil partnership bill is a product of nine months of work, involving two NGOs. It would establish for the first time in the former Soviet Republic’s history, legal grounds for LGBT Ukrainians in same-sex relationships to regulate property ownership, inheritance, pensions and death benefits, Sovsun argued.

“I could say that this is what our Western allies are demanding of us – and it is true, they are,” but 56% of Ukrainians agree that LGBTQ people should be entitled to civil partnerships, added Sovsun. “As a society, we have matured beyond the ‘Russian swamp’ and Soviet worldview.”

She Continued…”Because Ukraine values human dignity and freedom,” Ukrainians are “simply a different biological species” than Russians, concluded Sovsun.

Ukraine decriminalized homosexuality in 1991, but its constitution defines marriage as a voluntary union between a man and a woman (Article 51). As late as 2018, the Justice Ministry in Kiev said there were no legal grounds to allow same-sex civil partnerships.

Sovsun represents Golos, a self-described “liberal” and “pro-European” party that supports President Vladimir Zelensky’s ruling majority.

Article by: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer

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