This investigation is dedicated to an overall survey of the situation of gay men and lesbians in today's Ukraine. In our country such work is being carried out for the first time. All the work of collecting information, its processing, analysis, and the writing of the report has been performed by members of Nash Mir (Our World) Gay and Lesbian Center. Materials pertinent to the investigation were prepared using various sources. We have analyzed the coverage of gay issues in the mass media here at home, made an analysis of Ukrainian legislation, and directed inquiries to state bodies. Nash Mir has conducted a sociological survey of Ukrainian gays and lesbians and has followed up by processing the survey's results. Many data were obtained in the course of the current activities of the Center and through direct contacts with various people: gay men and women, state officials, members of the press, public figures and knowledgeable others. The investigation was conducted in 1999-2000. This text is a brief English summary of the full report published in both Ukrainian and Russian.

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II. Brief recent history

In Ukrainian and Russian 'goluboy' (light blue) means 'gay'

In the Soviet Union homosexuality was regarded at the very least as a grave mental disorder or even a crime. Consensual male homosexual intercourse without aggravation was punished by imprisonment of up to one year or expulsion of up to three years (Article 122 of the Criminal Code of Ukrainian SSR). According to Commentary to the Code, such intercourse applied only to anal-genital intercourse but any other kind of male gay sex was just classified under other articles, even though they did not mention such "crime" explicitly (like "Hooliganism", for instance). Lesbian sex did not constitute a criminal offense but lesbians were subjected to forced psychiatric treatment.

Ukraine was the first of the former Soviet republics to repeal criminal responsibility for non-violent male homosexual intercourse between adults. It happened virtually right after Ukraine had gained state independence in December 1991.

Today it is quite hard to determine the reasons for such progressive responsiveness by Ukrainian legislators. In any case, there seems to have been a very important role taken by the parliamentary Committee on Health Issues in this action. We know that the repeal of prosecution for homosexuality was one of several amendments passed all together and the others were obviously pertained to this committee because they were aimed at struggle against AIDS and, therefore, the very committee had to prepare them. The argumentation for legalization of homosexuality came into focus over the following: medicine has to be freely accessible to homosexuals in order to prevent the expansion of the AIDS epidemic, so homosexuals should not be made subject to fears of any criminal penalty. This argumentation seemed persuasive for conservative deputies and the law was passed without objections.

To summarize what happened, on December 12, 1991, the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine passed the Law "On making amendments in Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of Ukrainian SSR". According to this law, Article 122 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine was fixed in new wording. Article 122 henceforward provided punishment only for homosexual contacts that involve violence. Thus a new period was signified for the gay community of Ukraine.

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III. The attitude of today's Ukrainian society toward gay men and lesbians

Broad community and sources of information

Almost as it was before, homosexuality is considered and mostly remains a rather shameful and undesirable personal behavior or style, so an average Ukrainian gay or lesbian person tries to withhold this aspect of his or her life. Actually, it is quite usual for an Ukrainian person not to publicize his or her private life in any case. But gay men and women feel they have to take additional measures for disguising their true sexual identities and preferences - in order not bring out in the open personality aspects that a usual person would never think of concealing in the first place. Perhaps it is only in bohemian circles that some of our people do not tend to bottle up or be ashamed of their homosexuality: the only really famous gay in Ukraine is the poet and singer Konstantin (Kostia) Gnatenko. Though, understandably, rumors and even quite trustworthy information about the "non-traditional" sexual orientation of famous people circulate aplenty - still not a single politician, public figure nor businessman has so far dared to live an open life here, much less has any teacher, policeman, serviceman, official, or whoever.

Practically no information on homosexuality can be found in school course curricula nor in institutional teaching plans at pedagogical, law, nor most medical institutions of instruction. Nor is there any serious sociological or scientific research in this field yet. Due to a general decline in cultural life here, and a certain level of backwardness in Ukrainian mass culture as compared to the modern Western level, there are practically no works on homosexuality per se by Ukrainian authors. However, through Russian publishers our population does have some access to varied, if not too extensive, literature: chiefly translations in Russian of modern Western books. But this literature is not widely read and it does not appeal to a wide readership.

Serious interest in scientific views about the problems of homosexuality is hampered; a student can barely find a sufficient spread of books on the topic penned by either Ukrainian authors or authors in translations.

On the other hand, within the video market here one can easily find dozens of movie films touching on homosexual topics - from purely commercial films to genuine masterpieces of cinematography. And quite often such films are aired on TV. Since the absolute majority of them is made in the West, Ukrainians are willy-nilly presented with heroes and heroines, attitudes and situations that are alien to them. On the one hand, viewers of such films get used to the fact that a gay man or a lesbian may be depicted as an ordinary, undistinguished actor on the screen. On the other hand, an unusual abundance of such on-screen characters leads an average spectator to believe that this phenomenon is foreign and strange in nature, and so irritation is generated along with video entertainments.

Mass media

Journalists are interested in what is going on here

One kind of TV program that sometimes touches on gay themes is a talk show. As a whole, talk show programs prove that absolutely opposite views on homosexuality issues do exist and there is no general agreement of public opinion.

Because society by now is familiar with the fact that gays and lesbians exist in Ukraine, journalists move on, interested in spotlighting more specific issues. The number of press articles by authors of unbiased style who are seeking to cover and elicit the public's understanding of new facets of homosexuality is on the rise. We can state (based on our own group's experience) that journalism of this specifying, unbiased kind makes up slightly over half of all materials that appear and touch upon the subject of homosexuality in some way. Yet we frequently note in such published or broadcast materials the author's attempt to keep aloof, to make an ironic or even somewhat denouncing comment, at least in the headline or lead-in - maybe so as to avoid the author's being suspected of a personal liking for homosexuality. Such equivocal style is characteristic of all major Ukrainian publications and TV channels that address the subject. And in search of information the press often turns to dubious, to put it mildly, sources and "specialists".

Even if a journalist manages to hold to an even and impartial style throughout his work, an editor often places nearby or in one of the next issues contrary material which is downright negative. What is more, editors are not ashamed of allowing publication of openly homophobic materials that groundlessly accuse homosexual people of all the deadly sins or roundly insult them. Apart from the mentioned contradictory (to say the least), sometimes downright silly or abusive headlines, papers and magazines often embellish texts with loud photographs having no connection with the content. TV channels have used garish video illustrations - preferring shows of transvestites or gay parades - even when a scientific conference is being covered.

Numerous publications that readily carry other advertising, rarely agree to place gay contact ads on their pages.

Society

Information on the wide public's attitude toward homosexuality and homosexual people in Ukraine is very scarce. A poll run by Kyiv Post newspaper gave the following results: To the question "What is your attitude toward sexual minorities?" 3.42% answered "Positive," 45% - "Neutral," 39.39% - "Negative," 4.17% - "I am not aware of them" and 8.02% answered "It's hard to give an answer." One thousand people age 15 to 55 living in all regions of Ukraine were polled.

Kievskye Vedomosti newspaper mentioned the results of a poll run by sociologists of the Center of Social Services for youth in Kherson Region among 440 senior students of school age 13 to 18. According to them, the negative attitude was voiced by 43%, while the positive one was voiced by 10%. In the countryside the number of those who expressed the negative attitude was 10-20% higher than among the urban population.

A sociological survey run by the authoritative service Socis-Gallup, the results of which were published in Den newspaper, asked respondents to answer the question "Do you agree that the existence of clubs and associations of sexual minorities should be banned?" The answers presented in the paper were as follows:

37% - agreed completely or entirely

21% - disagreed absolutely or entirely

44% - gave no definite answer.

1200 people were polled, representing the basic social and demographic groups of the adult population of Ukraine.

By and large, the opinion that gays and lesbians should be allowed to live as they like so long as they remain not too visible, is most widespread in our modern Ukrainian society. According to our own experience, active homophobia is not widespread in the society; typically people view gay men and lesbians - when they come to know them personally - in a quite tolerant way. The epoch of mass prosecution, beatings and bashings, and blackmail in regard to homosexual people is already history. Yet many people are hostile to the idea that gays and lesbians may live openly, out of the closet. Public manifestations of mutual male affection is all but unthinkable, while those between women are construed to be a display of female friendship. After advertising about the launch of a phone hotline for gays and lesbians had been published, our organization received a lot of abusive and threatening calls - including threats of physical violence. At the same time publishers of the only gay magazine in the country, Odyn z Nas (Kiev), met quite a friendly and respectful attitude on the part of their business partners.

On the whole it should be noted that the attitude of Ukrainian society toward homosexuality and homosexual people is far from being uniform; it is changeable and in a formative stage. In the capital and major cities the attitude, naturally, is more tolerant; in the provinces and countryside it is more conservative and homophobic.

State and law bodies, Armed Forces

For various reasons the state bodies in Ukraine are not willing to view gay men and lesbians as a part of present-day Ukrainian society. To be more accurate, they do not want to take notice of gay and lesbian citizens. But when gays and lesbians make themselves visible in one way or another, the least that can be expected in reply from the state organs is irritation. An average official has an absolute unwillingness, even to the point of panic terror, to be related to the subject of homosexuality. In their official roles people treat homosexuality with much less tolerance and greater caution than in personal contacts. In the absence of a state policy and a real awareness of the actual state of affairs, officials are prone to keep to their own (to close ranks), or to cling to what they consider to be "standard" social prejudices when making decisions.

In regard to the police and the Office of Public Prosecutor, Ukrainian gay men and lesbians do not trust their legal institutions and are not willing to get involved with them. Largely this is accounted for by the low esteem and authority that these services enjoy in the society. Besides, gay people remember all too well the previous times when homosexuality was regarded as a criminal offense. We know of just one case in which the police helped protect a gay man. We know of lots of cases when police were not willing to step in fairly or when they treated homosexuals in a completely unlawful way, permitting illegal methods of work and unlawfully collecting information about homosexuals. For example, in the course of a police investigation of a gay murder in our native city of Lugansk last autumn 1998, the police illegally detained gays, demanded personal and even intimate information from them about other homosexuals, and seized personal notebooks. From these actions they formed files on all of us. Though refraining from physical force, the police did resort to provocation and intimidation.

At the same time, it must be said that state structures do not take any special measures to expose covert homosexuals within their staffs. Neither do state structures take any measures against homosexual persons at work, at least as long as state employees do not show off or act out their sexual orientation.

According to replies from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice, these institutions have no programs nor even any information concerning issues connected with homosexuality, including any problems of sexual violence in correctional facilities.

As to the Armed Forces, so-called "off-regulations relations" are widespread, to the extent of making the presence of an open or exposed gay in the army rather impossible. At a minimum, an open and exposed gay in the army would risk the loss of his fellows' respect, or even the loss of his very life. The Ministry of Defense does not acknowledge the very existence of the problem. According to the official reply to our query for information: "Currently there are no programs of psychological support for gay or lesbian service people and in the Armed Forces since such a problem does not exist." At the same time, homosexuality officially is not regarded as a reason for being fired from the army ranks nor for being exempted from conscription. In practice this results in Ukrainian gay men's unwillingness to serve in the army. And it results in army officials' unwillingness to allow the appearance of open gays in the ranks. So army officials seek all possible means of exempting gay men from military service under various pretexts. Furthermore, freely translated but according to the same letter: "Regarding the functionary (job) position charged with bringing up personnel and service advancement matters or decisions, homosexuality may be considered as a limiting factor, in combination with other moral and business qualities of a serviceperson." It is to be inferred that currently sexual orientation discrimination does indeed exist in the Armed Forces and decisions concerning people's advancement and service are made taking homosexuality into consideration.

Education, social services

According to the official reply from the Ministry of Education to our inquiry, there is no course of sexual education in high schools (it is to be noted that any such course is absent in special high schools and higher institutions as well). At the same time students sometimes can receive a certain amount of information on sexuality and its related problems in the course of studying "Valeology" (the study of a healthy lifestyle) or in some other optional course. All such information is provided to students through the teachers' discretion and understanding and at their own risk. Any textbooks on these issues are absent. It is also to be noted that, according to our observations, if a teacher has enough courage to bring up the topic of sexuality to students, usually he or she presents information in a neutral and quite friendly tone, and the students' attitude as a whole becomes close to that of the broad public or more positive.

We are aware of the circular letter of the Ministry of Education (dated March 2, 1995) that recommends not to allow "adults with clearly expressed homosexual inclinations to work with children and teenagers, especially in the closed type institutions, boarding schools and children's camps." There is not any explanations of what the expression "clearly expressed" means. Yet the Ministry denies the existence of such a document in its official reply.

Staff members of social services, like officials in the sphere of education, try to keep clear of the homosexuality topic in their work, though they do admit the existence of such issues. Usually they pay their attention to isolated cases, but the gravest ones, when a person is incapable of coming to terms with burdening problems caused by society's hostility and indifference - cases that require the urgent help of a professional psychologist. Now social services neither have nor plan to develop any broadbased educational programs for fighting homophobia.

Political and public organizations

Under the rainbow flag in the office of Nash Mir in Luhansk

Within the whole range of Ukrainian public and political organizations an interest in lesbian and gay problems is exhibited by only a few human rights groups (however many of such groups would prefer to keep clear of the topic). Also exhibiting an interest in lesbian and gay problems are organizations that, existing on sponsors' funding, aim to further the development of the Ukrainian non-governmental sector.

We find that the prime characteristic of all social and political forces of Ukraine is claiming that they adhere to certain values and belong to international like-minded communities;- yet at the same time they take a special exceptional stand regarding human rights for gays and lesbians. Or, these forces plainly disregard the existence of such problems of "the queer". In this respect Ukrainian parties at present differ dramatically from their Western counterparts, although Ukrainian parties profess that they adhere to "European values" with all their might. When we polled political parties before parliamentary election, and later when we polled candidates for President before presidential election;- on their attitude towards gay human rights issues - the results were: We received an answer only from the Liberal Democratic party and an answer from a former foreign minister and would-be President. Both replies spelled out that their authors are staunch Democrats, but that gay issues are too controversial and it is not yet the time to discuss them in the country. A statement made by the ex-President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk in a recent interview with the journal PiK reflects the thinking of high-level officials: "We need to work in the independent state for 500 years, and I think that only then will we discuss the problems of sexual minorities. But now, when the country is going through hard financial and economic crises, when millions of people cannot make ends meet, who considers discussing such things in Parliament? If anyone put forward such a problem, the others would say that this person is mad. They would say: "Well, you have found a theme... We have others!" For all my respect for human rights, I consider that it [sexual minorities issue] is a mental deviation. I have lived my life already, but I still cannot accept [homosexuality] as something normal. It is either an illness or some sort of mental pathology...or maybe the outcome of education by foreign movies... It's disgusting even to speak about it."

Churches

Largely as a result of broad atheist propaganda and fighting against religion in recently past Soviet times, Ukrainian churches do not have a great impact on the general public's mentality. A certain exception is Western Ukraine, where the influence of the Greek Catholic and Orthodox churches is far greater than in the rest of the country. Though most polls show the church as nearly the most respected and trusted social force, in practice the majority of the population is not inclined to heed its opinion. That is why the Ukrainian churches' negative view of homosexuality and homosexual people does not have a large influence on society. Besides, churches, like our other institutions, prefer not to notice this topic nor to broach it. On the whole, Ukraine's churches have little concern for the acute issues of social life and do not interfere in secular life as they are chiefly engaged in solving their own problems: searching for state support as well as addressing discords between different denominations.

Quite recently the Russian Orthodox Church (represented in Ukraine as the quasi-autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the most numerous and influential denomination in the country) for the first time in its history adopted its Basics of the Social Doctrine. This Doctrine, among other issues, mentions the Church's attitude toward homosexuality and transsexuality. Predictably, the Church unequivocally condemns homosexuality and harshly opposes any promotion of it in society. The Church also urges the proscription of "persons promoting homosexuality" from occupying positions in education, activities for children and youth, and from positions of command in the army and correction facilities. As regards transsexuality, the Church mostly limits itself to non-recognition and condemnation of sex-change treatment.

The most widespread denominations of Ukraine - three Orthodox churches, Greek Catholics, Protestants (primarily Baptists, Pentecostals, and Adventists through all the country, and Reformats in the Transcarpathian region) and also Jehovah's Witnesses, Roman Catholics, Moslems, and followers of Judaism - are distinguished by deep conservatism and adherence to traditions even when compared to their foreign counterparts. Trends of toleration toward homosexual people, presented in some branches of Protestantism and Judaism, are hardly represented in our country. Buddhism, perhaps the most tolerant religion in regard to homosexuality, is almost absent in Ukraine.

At the same time it is clear that homosexuality itself is not a rarity in church circles. This is testified to by our own experience and by publications in the press (for example, an article titled "Boys in the Monasteries are the Bedding for Bishops" from the Kievskie Vedomosti newspaper).

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IV. Legislation

General legal situation. Constitution

Ukraine is still going through the stage of taking shape as a state. Our course, ostensibly declared to be the construction of the civil society and a legal state, seems to be of the nature of good intentions rather than of actual trends to be realized. That is why many legislative rulings, though quite democratic and liberal, are not confirmed by state politics and everyday practice. Besides, many general clauses of the Constitution do not find their embodiment in specific laws and regulating documents. The legislative system of Ukraine is now at the stage of reforming and approximating to the modern European standards. Ukraine has inherited most of its basic laws and codes from Soviet times. Those basic laws and codes contain a lot of outdated clauses. At the moment new Criminal and Civil Codes are under preparation and, very probably, this analysis of currently in-place legislation will soon prove out-of-date itself. Yet, it is hardly likely that Ukrainian legislators will turn their attention to the problem of equality for citizens of all sexual orientations.

As to the real power of law in Ukraine, the state of affairs is far from the best. Courts covertly, but strongly, depend on the executive power; the majority of judges do not have enough expertise in the area of protection of human and civil rights. The regular financial maintenance of judges and legal proceedings is very poor.

Nonetheless, the Constitution of Ukraine contains a set of basic anti-discrimination provisions, its norms are the norms of direct action, and everyone can appeal to a the courts on the basis of the Constitution's given provisions (Article 8 of Ukraine's Constitution).

In addition, in line with Article 9 of the Constitution, international agreements ratified by the Verkhovna Rada (the Parliament), become a part of the national legislation. In this respect it is to be noted that Ukraine signed and ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and additional protocols to it. Thus Ukraine has committed itself to adherence to this important document — and to the acknowledgment of the supreme jurisdiction of the European Court on Human Rights that is based on this Convention. Thus case law of the European Court on Human Rights is one of the sources of internal legislation of Ukraine as a member state of the Council of Europe.

The notion of "sexual orientation" itself, or any analogue of it, is not to be found in any enactment of Ukraine. Let us say that our country is no exception not only among its closer neighbors, but also considering the background of world practice. Nonetheless, the Constitution contains the provisions usual for a democratic state, those that protect basic human rights and freedoms.

Article 24 holds: "Citizens have equal constitutional rights and freedoms and are equal before the law.

There cannot be privileges or limitations on the basis of race, skin color, political, religious and other convictions, sex, ethnic and social origin, property status, place of residence, language or for other reasons." Analogous provisions in constitutions of some countries did get the official interpretation (of those countries' constitutional courts or justice ministries) and do state the inclusiveness of the ban on sexual orientation discrimination. Since the lists of reasons is left open, theoretically such an interpretation might be valid for Ukraine too, yet as of now any explanations from our justice bodies are absent.

Labor legislation

Article 22 of the Ukrainian Code of Labor Laws "Guarantees in conclusion, alteration and cessation of a labor agreement" contains a closed list of anti-discriminatory factors, and sexual orientation is not mentioned there either openly or covertly.

Family and civil legislation

In principle the Code on Matrimony and Family does not mention the possibility of a same-sex family, if not clearly banning its existence. However, Article 1 "Purpose of the Code on Matrimony and Family of Ukraine" holds, in line with Article 51 of the Constitution, that family relations are based on the voluntary matrimonial union of a man and a woman. It is to be noted that the Code does not acknowledge extramarital family relations in general - except in the issues of securing rights of children born beyond a registered marriage.

Chapter 14 "Adoption" does not contain any provisions concerning sexual orientation of an adopter. The same goes for Chapter 15 "Trusteeship and custody". Adoption is effected by court (Article 102) exclusively in a child's interest (Article 101-1).

Article 196 "Contraction of marriages of Ukraine's citizens in consular offices. Acceptance of marriages contracted outside Ukraine as valid" contains the provision to the effect that: "In cases when marriages between Ukraine's citizens and marriages of Ukraine's citizens with foreign citizens are contracted outside Ukraine in keeping with the law of the locality where these marriages are contracted, they are accepted as valid in Ukraine in the absence of the matrimonial impediments ensuing from Articles 15-17 and 45 of this Code. Marriages of foreign citizens contracted outside Ukraine in line with the laws of corresponding states are accepted as valid in Ukraine." Article 45 "Grounds and order of invalidating a matrimony", apart from the limitations imposed by Articles 15-17, invalidates only sham marriages. So, if citizens of Ukraine could contract a same-sex marriage between themselves or with foreigners outside Ukraine in line with the law of a foreign state, it might be accepted as valid in Ukraine in keeping with the Code in force (in case it conforms to the necessary requirements of the given Code). Also, in any case such a marriage between foreign citizens would be accepted as valid. Yet, currently no country in the world accepts same-sex marriages as fully valid. The forms of registered partnership for homosexual couples, which exist in some European countries, are, strictly speaking, a separate form of judicial acceptance of family relations. So, at the given moment such a situation is purely theoretical. However, probably from the beginning of 2001, the Netherlands will implement a law that will regulate matrimonial relations of both hetero- and homosexual couples equally. This law also applies to the marriages of Dutch citizens and permanent residents with foreigners contracted in the Netherlands. In its present-day form the Ukrainian legislation contains no provisions that clearly impede the acceptance of such a marriage as valid in Ukraine.

Criminal legislation

Currently the Criminal Code of Ukraine contains the only article that clearly differentiates a crime depending on its homosexual nature, and that was inherited from Soviet times: Article 122 "Pederasty". Unlike the Soviet Criminal Code, only acts of a violent nature are punishable. According to explanations to the Criminal Code, the given crime may consist only in violent anal intercourse where a rapist acts as the active part. Any other kind of forcible homosexual act is addressed or covered by other articles of the Criminal Code, not mentioning such intercourse explicitly, for instance "Hooliganism". It is beyond understanding why there is such a distinction among analogous crimes depending on the specific kind of a sexual act, as for Article 122 "Pederasty" and Articles 117 "Rape", 118 "Gratification of sexual passion by unnatural mean", and 119 "Forcible sexual act with a woman". Besides, homosexual rape (pederasty) is subject to a lesser punishment than a rape of a woman by a man.

The conception of age of consent is absent in Ukrainian legislation but the analysis of the Articles 117-122 of the Criminal Code shows that this age is equal for both heterosexual and homosexual relations and is 16 years of age. In the case of a heterosexual act it is also necessary that the younger partner has reached puberty.

The Criminal code envisages a specific punishment for stirring up hostility and hatred, humiliation and disparagement, as well as insult only in case these actions are based on citizens' race or nationality, or their religious belief (Article 66).

It is worth mentioning that in the project of a new Criminal Code, that is to be adopted in the near future, almost all of the above mentioned flaws are corrected. There will not be a distinction between homo- and heterosexual, men's and women's sexual roles. The article "Pederasty" is wholly abolished. The sole remains of the Soviet law stays in the article "Gratification of sexual passion by unnatural means". It is not clear what exactly legislators can mean by it. If homosexual intercourse is recognized as "natural" then what else can be regarded as "unnatural"? In the Soviet Code this Article refers to forcible acts of sodomy with a woman as a victim. The draft of the new Code provides punishment for establishment of privileges or limitations on the basis of race, skin color, political, religious and other convictions, sex, ethnic and social origin, property status, place of residence, language or for other reasons in compliance with the constitutional anti-discrimination clause.

Immigration and asylum

Ukraine's legislation in no way limits the right to immigration into the country, granting citizenship, nor affording asylum depending on the applicant's sexual orientation. According to the official reply to our inquiry made to the Nationalities and Immigration State Committee of Ukraine, "Homosexual orientation of a person, as regarding his/her belonging to a certain social group, if such a group is likely to be prosecuted in a certain country, is the basis for getting the status of a refugee in compliance with the Law of Ukraine "On Refugees". At the same time it is to be noted that the question of granting a specific person a refugee status is considered individually in accordance with the legislation in force."

We are not aware of a single case of an application to the Ukrainian authorities for granting asylum where one of the grounds was prosecution of an applicant for his/her homosexual orientation in his/her homeland. Besides, it is to be noted that Ukraine is not a wealthy country, and so very few people seek asylum here (mostly those who do are citizens of Afghanistan who are granted asylum due to the extremely hard social and political situation in their native country).

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V. Life of gays and lesbians in today's Ukraine

Self-awareness and self-expression of gay men and women

Now we do not fear the rain

The overwhelming majority of gays and lesbians has not yet come out of the closet; what is more, they do not see any sense in coming out. They have adjusted themselves to many conditions including life in two dimensions: the people around them conform, so gays and lesbians conform too, though they are like-minded within their somewhat hidden subgroup, as it were. Furthermore, an important part is played by those 55% of the people polled who do reveal their sexual orientation - at least to their acquaintances and friends who are outside the lesbian and gay community.

It is interesting to analyze the reasons pointed out by the polled persons who stated that they conceal their sexual orientation. The majority (57%) of the respondents do not make a point of telling others about their orientation because in their view this is not the chief factor in social relations. In a sense this is really so. The fact that a certain person is homosexual is not a basis for pride (nor for shame either). But taking a closer look, we see that underlying such a response worded thus, is the usual willingness to avoid troubles and, in a respondent's view, possible complications connected with coming out.

Fear of being deserted by friends was expressed by 16.8% of the polled. Again, it is hard to tell how grounded in reality such a fear is. The same goes for those who think that they will face difficulties in their work places. Probably everything depends on the work staff and a homosexual employee's prestige. The minority (12%) pointed out an inner reason for unwillingness to admit their true orientation in front of their acquaintances: "I would be ashamed to bring this up." Presumably, these respondents themselves have not come to terms with their own orientation. And only 0.56% speak about the real threat of being subjected to violence in case their homosexuality should become revealed.

To generalize, it may be said in overview that the reasons for the invisibility of gay men and women in society stem from a general, psychologically unfavorable atmosphere of distrust held by society toward those with dissenting views in the sexual sphere. Such distrust still reigns. Often a vicious circle forms: society mistrusts gays and lesbians because it lacks information about them and thus cannot have an objective opinion of persons known only through hearsay. Gays and lesbians, for their parts, are not willing to reveal themselves for fear of a negative reaction from the people around them. However, as the experience of the open gay men and women attest, fears concerning Ukrainian society's intolerance toward gays and lesbians are far too exaggerated. And all the while, a process of improvement in society's attitude toward homosexuals is clearly underway. Adequate evaluation of it requires further research into this area.

Finding partners

Recent years have been marked by changes in the ways gay men and women find partners. First of all, new means have appeared for making acquaintanceships or for the befriending of others that were not known before. After Odyn z Nas magazine, a periodical especially for sexual minorities, was launched, gays and lesbians gained one more channel of opportunity to express their loneliness in the hope of ameliorating it. According to the poll conducted by Our World Center, 56% of the polled find partners and friends through gay ads in the press (in our poll, a respondent could indicate all means of acquaintance that he or she uses).

Parting is a hard thing to do

In 1993 the first "Disco Show of a Gay Dream" was held with the help of Ganimed organization. Since then gay bars and discos have emerged and disappeared in various cities of Ukraine: Kiev, Kharkov, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhie. In Kiev, Kharkov and Odessa gay bars and discos have been open and in business on a quite regular basis for some time. Recently a similar type club was opened in Donetsk. It is hard to say, though, how long the Donetsk club will manage to stay in business. When over 50% of the polled respondents find new contacts, they find them at gay discos and in gay clubs. And there is another means of finding partners - via the Internet. Taking into account the modest financial resources of most Ukrainian citizens and as yet low level of development of computer networks here, the poll results seem to us to be an exact reflection of the state of affairs.

"Traditional" means of finding partners are changing too. As a part of the gay population has come out, the gay men and women's circle of communication has widened both within the community and among those heterosexuals who are aware of the sexual orientation of their friends. So a lot of respondents (48%) find new contacts through friends. As in earlier times, probably the most difficult challenge for a "novice" is finding his/her first contact. When he/she gets into the company of a circle of homosexual acquaintances, he/she often finds new friends in the process of socialization. Many gay men and women introduce their unacquainted friends to one another. In recent years it sometimes happens that even heterosexual friends play the role of mediators and make such introductions. As for such traditional means of making contacts as cruising places, they continue to exist too. Cruising places or "beats" were named by 12% of the polled. Probably if we were to speak about the gay community as a whole, the 12% figure would be somewhat higher, because those who find contacts primarily in cruising places were left out of the poll.

The situation in society remains far from cheerful. As few as 8% of the polled answered that they find contacts at work or at an educational institution; and slightly over 2.5% make contacts on the street or public transportation. About 22% (33% of those living in the countryside) have admitted that they practically have no possibility of finding anyone. And there is another facet to the issue of contacting others: even when some formal channels of getting acquainted do exist, in most cases one has to pick friends or a partner from a quite small number of choices. The reason is not that gays and lesbians are particularly few in numbers. The reason is social isolation: in most cities of Ukraine (leaving aside villages and little towns) gays, and especially lesbians, are confined to a narrow world of their own. They simply do not communicate with other groups of a similar nature. Ukraine still lacks a genuine, linked-up gay and lesbian community. Apart from other challenges to our unity, the present beginning stage of community-building also impacts the process of seeking friends and partners by gays and lesbians.

Prostitution among gays and lesbians

Strangely enough, very little has changed lately in the field of prostitution among gays and lesbians. As before, it is quite limited. The reason is certainly not the higher moral level of homosexuals nor the lack of opportunity today. In conditions of hard economic crisis many young - and not so young - men think about improving their financial situations by such easy way as selling themselves. These boys are not necessarily gay or bisexual even. Heterosexual men also are tempted by the widely held opinion that gay sex is paid better. The problem, as before, is the narrow circle of those johns or sex customers who are ready to pay "rent boys." Johns in Ukraine are a specific category of foreign tourists on holiday and a small number of native well-heeled homosexuals. In recent years their ranks were slightly increased by gay foreigners working for joint ventures, representatives of foreign firms, and others. As Roberts Oostrogeels notes in his report "Factors of risky sexual behavior in Donetsk, Lvov, Kherson and Dnepropetrovsk" (1998): "In contrast to the West and such countries as Brazil and Thailand, where homosexual prostitution makes up from 20 to 30% of sex-biz turnover, in Ukraine this level is below 1%." Gay prostitution is concentrated mostly in Kiev, Odessa, and Yalta (Crimea). In other cities it has a sporadic character. There are neither definite places for prostitution contacts nor fixed prices for services. Quite often payment is a bottle of beer, a plate of soup or staying overnight.

Sometimes, though, a young man may be "lucky" and get a money remuneration. In these circles stories abound about willing boys who are lucky to be supported by a representative of the new Ukrainian bourgeoisie that is currently coming into being. But these rumors are as a rule exaggerated. More frequently, a medium income gay or lesbian sponsors a young needy boy or girl and they live together. This is not quite prostitution within the framework of its classical forms.

As for women, bisexual prostitutes enjoy the greatest popularity with male clients. Perhaps their services are used as well by the businesswomen who have appeared in recent years. Yet by any measure prostitution by bisexual women is still less visible than prostitution by gay men.

Gays in heterosexual environment

You may wonder what happens when someone becomes known ("out" or "outed") as a gay person? On the average in Ukraine as few as 7.3% of the polled faced physical violence as a result of coming out. 7.3% of respondents were threatened or blackmailed. Far worse for some people is a dulling pressure, so to speak, produced by those around them, and abuse or insults circulated behind their backs. About one third of the polled encountered such social pressure, verbal abuse or insults as manifestations of homophobia directed at them. In the Ukrainian countryside the situation of rural gays in heterosexual environment is far worse than in our cities. Violence was encountered by 14.8% of the respondents residing in the countryside; 11.5% faced threats and blackmail.

On the other hand, even in self-proclaimed liberal circles it is still the usual thing not to draw attention to nor to flaunt one's homosexual orientation. The implication is understood that it is gays and lesbians who are obliged to surround and wall off their true selves with a shy silence. When heterosexuals talk loudly about their sexuality it is not considered as flaunting.

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VI. Transgendered people

According to the ruling of the Health Ministry of Ukraine dated March 15, 1996, a person may not get permission for changing sex until he or she turns age 25. To get permission for an operation one has to receive the recommendation of a commission of experts in psychology. Following the decision that a person is really at core a transsexual (i.e., the desire to change sex is innate rather than acquired) he/she has to go through a process of psychological and social adjustment for one year. This means that a male transsexual, hitherto having been documented as a man, now must look and behave like a woman. It is easy to imagine how difficult it is to realize such new gender role behavior in an Ukrainian atmosphere of intolerance toward everything that is different from societal stereotypes. The person's documents are not changed until the operation is over. The operation is preceded by an examination in a psychiatric clinic (in the company of drug addicts and lunatics). Those who seek to become women are put into a men's ward, and vice versa. Despite these clinical arrangements, much that occurs in the sex-change process depends on a doctor's personality and discretion. Another problem and stressor - the operation is very expensive. In Ukraine there are about 150 transsexuals who are actually registered; the real number of transsexuals is far greater.

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VII. The situation of HIV-positive people in Ukraine

Legislation on AIDS. Observation on rights of the HIV-infected

The issues of prevention and treatment of the HIV-infected, their rights and responsibilities are regulated by the Law of Ukraine "On prevention of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and social protection of the population" (1998 edition). As distinct from the edition of 1991, the latter law does not specify the groups of population that are liable to obligatory examination for AIDS. This is so, first of all, because the state lacks the means necessary for conducting such AIDS examinations. The official medical establishment takes note thereby of this change in the designation of the groups subject to examination, and of the reduction of the number of new cases of HIV+. At present HIV-infected persons are being diagnosed only within a population of persons who of their own accord turn to doctors, or among those who had a contact with those who have been proven to be HIV-infected. We see a positive state attitude here at the moment, as no one may be made to submit to a medical examination forcibly against his will. Only pregnant women and donors' blood are subject to an obligatory test. A person with HIV infection has the right to turn down further collaboration with an AIDS-center.

The mentioned law of 1998 guarantees to a patient with HIV or AIDS that the results of a medical examination will be kept secret. At the same time the law obliges a HIV-infected person "to inform all those who had sexual contact with him prior to the examination that they have probably been infected" (Article 15). The Ukrainian Criminal Code contains an article (108-4) that envisions criminal responsibility for subjecting another person to the threat of HIV-infection and for infecting him (punishable by up to 5 and 8 years imprisonment respectively). But since 1991, if we take Donetsk district as an example, not a single criminal case concerning such an incrimination ended with a conviction. HIV-infected persons also exist among our prisoner population. In keeping with Order of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine dated March 18, 1997: "On conditions of maintaining the HIV-infected in places of confinement", convicts are provided with access to a voluntary examination and the results thereof are kept secret. The latter provision for examination has some negative sides as well. For instance, there is no exchange of information between medical institutions of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine and departments of the Health Ministry. Arrested and convicted HIV-infected persons live in places of confinement on a common basis with the uninfected. Interestingly, the Interior Ministry of Ukraine does oblige the authorities of "investigation lockups, corrective institutions, regardless of the presence of the HIV-infected, to secure the accessibility of condoms to inmates" and thus the Ministry officially acknowledges by inference widespread homosexual contacts between inmates. Nonetheless, inmate conditions created for the HIV-infected are horrible and inhuman indeed. According to the mentioned 1998 law, the HIV-infected and those with AIDS enjoy all the rights and freedoms envisioned by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, as well as by other normative rulings of Ukraine (Article 17). In particular: "To deny admittance to medical institutions, rendering of medical service, infringement on other persons' rights on the ground that they are HIV-infected or AIDS-affected, is banned" (Article 18). It is also forbidden "To reveal data on the results of a medical examination by a medical personnel or another official" (Article 108 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). In practice the rights of the HIV-infected are abused on a wide scale. Many of the infected are not even aware of their rights. In greatest demand among visitors of AIDS-centers and various public organizations, engaged in psychological and social support of the HIV-infected, is the text of the law where citizens' rights are described. But even if a person is aware of his/her rights, he/she has to make efforts to secure the observation of these rights. Given the conditions of an AIDS crisis situation - and an intolerant general population of low cultural level - any divulging of information about a person's being HIV-positive usually results in a series of material and psychological problems up to and including premature death.

Medical and psychological aid to the HIV-infected and AIDS patients

In line with Ukraine's Law "On prevention of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and social protection of the population" - besides the mentioned ban on refusal to admit a person to a medical institution - the HIV-infected and AIDS patients have a right to get "medicines, means of personal prophylaxis and psychological and social support free of charge, as well as free transportation to the place of treatment and back" (Article 17). In practice how this is effected: an AIDS-center, for instance in the city of Donetsk (in a region where about one-third of all the infected in Ukraine are concentrated), has specially trained doctors (namely, a dentist), a phone hotline and a psychologist for HIV-positive clients. Regrettably, even here the specific treatment for HIV/AIDS is absent. Only the diseases that accompany AIDS are being treated. Yet even at this level of treatment such centers can be found only in our big cities of Kiev, Odessa, Simferopol, and Donetsk. Other populated areas have only HIV/AIDS consulting-rooms - or simply venereal diseases dispensaries. The only treatment actions they take is to register new patients who got HIV-infected. (Another sphere of their activity is preventive care.) Specific treatment is provided in Kiev alone and its volume of treatment is far from sufficient to meet the need. The reason is solely the lack of means for purchasing medicines and test-systems.

Another problem accompanying the issue of AIDS treatment: in recent years the overwhelming majority of persons with HIV infections detected by doctors has been drug addicts who use injections. According to the latest data, about 85% of the infected in Ukraine belong to this category of injecting drug addicts. As a result, the immense funds that could be effectively used for treating ordinary patients with AIDS, have been spent instead on social rehabilitation of addicts to rid them of drug addiction. As the practice of state medical institutions attests, the effectiveness of such work is a 1-2% recovery rate. The same project under the Health Ministry's order reports that it plans to transfer these addicts from the responsibility of AIDS-centers over to the authority of dispensaries for drug addicts. Only after such a HIV-infected person overcomes addiction will he/she be liable to benefit from methods of AIDS treatment.

AIDS centers outside the nation's capital of Kiev are intended to execute another function. Outlying AIDS centers have a mission to render psychological support to those people who have learned they are HIV-infected and are subsequently confronted with psychological problems that they cannot solve on their own. Here much depends on the professional level and human qualities of a doctor. Apart from AIDS-centers, psychological aid or help is rendered by phone hotlines, services of social assistance to youth, and mutual support groups.

Estimations by specialists currently place gays as making up from 2% to 5% of the HIV-infected population in Ukraine.

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VIII. Gay community in Ukraine

The gay community in Ukraine is a number of small groups of people. It was not until recent years that gays and lesbians in Ukraine enjoyed the possibility of coming out of the closet; so very few of them dare to lead a more or less open life. It would be premature to speak of a full-fledged Ukrainian gay community yet. Taking into account general trends in our country's development, supposedly we will gradually grow to approximate the modern situation of gays and lesbians in the developed countries of Europe with its linked EU culture.

Some gay men prefer to gather in pleshkas or cruising places. Pleshka places are located near public restrooms in parks or at railway stations. The attitude of gays toward cruising places is utterly varied - from outright avoidance of them to making a stand in the favor of a free pleshka lifestyle as genuinely homosexual and politically "queer". Regardless of contradictory views of such places in the gay environment, pleshka localities are marked by lots of intensive activity. Here one can meet people who are into socializing or/and seeking sexual contacts. Users of pleshkas represent all strata of the population, from young careless "girls" up to serious businessmen. Bear in mind, however, that it is a minority of gays who attend pleshkas at all. In recent years, public bathhouses have ceased to be preferred meeting places too. Such a radical change of routines and outlets that were usual during Soviet times, causes perplexity and constant complaints from many gays today, especially older ones. The alternative, finding contacts by placing ads in papers, is far less effective and more troublesome. The absence - outside our large cities - of other places like discos, bars and cafe/restaurant venues that could be popular among gays, results in ongoing, deepening, mutual isolation.

At the yearly outset of the summer and holiday season, gay nudist beaches - in Kiev, Kharkov, Odessa, and Simeiz near Yalta - once again attract lots of people. Acquaintanceships in such places are usually short-lived. But at holiday sites people from different, widely flung places become familiar. Sometimes lasting friendly ties form that cover the entire country with a net of mutual contacts. Since perestroika, glasnost and the USSR's dissolution, obstacles to travel in Eastern Europe have disappeared. While travel money is scarce especially for young people, gays in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, and to some extent Poland are in more communication and even networking together. Moscow and Petersburg are looked up to as capital cities serving as good models, with their prosperous gay businesses and gay subcultures. Both cities emanate very encouraging influences favoring the development of indigenous gay communities in the post-Soviet world.

The lesbian community in Ukraine is still practically invisible. Women have more trouble finding partners and friends than men. More frequently than with gays, two women having found each other shut themselves up in their own shell and cease communicating widely with other lesbians. Probably such sequestering together harkens back to the traditionally less outgoing social activity in womankind, at least Soviet women. When a noticeable gay group full of initiative forms in some place, it is either mixed or contains all men members. The lesbian groups that have existed until the present more nearly resembled a simple company of friends, though there was a tendency in such groups from different towns to keep in touch via mail and visits with each other. We can say this without meaning any offense whatsoever to anyone, because Nash Mir is a mixed group and concurs with this non-sexist observation as accurate for now.

A certain level of gay activity gains noticeability only in major cities and health resort centers during the holiday season. Similarly, even lesser-sized towns have their own gay groups however tiny, and their meeting places known to many people. In contrast, the countryside and villages are devoid of groups and meeting places. Gays that live in rural surroundings - even if they manage to find a constant partner by a miracle - keep their relationship secret. Otherwise, they live either a hopelessly solitary life, visit places more busy, or do their best to move to a larger city. From their small town or village they move to a regional center; from a big city - to the capital; from Kiev - to Moscow or farther abroad. Many do not believe that things here will change for the better in the near future; they do not see any possibility of having a normal existence worthy of a human being without changing their location.

Gay groups, initiatives and public organizations

How many we are, and how different we are!

The public gay men and lesbians movement has gone through several stages over the last ten years. Before repeal of the criminal prosecution for male homosexuality the existence of gay groups, not to mention organizations, was out of the question. At best companies of friends existed. Following amendment of the criminal legislation in December 1991, the situation started to undergo changes. Groups and separate activists started to appear in different regions of Ukraine. Their goal was to improve the situation of gay men and lesbians. A large consolidating role in this process was played by an attempt to create the first All-Ukraine organization of gays and lesbians, "Ganimed". "Ganimed" was registered in the spring of 1994. Yet that organization's Statute barely mentioned gay men and lesbians and emphasized the problem of AIDS. This was typical of the first stage of gay activism in Ukraine. The only context in which state bodies allowed homosexual people to be mentioned was in the context of the AIDS epidemic problem. Regrettably, "Ganimed" went to pieces before it started to work on the nationwide level; events were conducted only by the Kiev branch of "Ganimed" and these were separate events. The two reasons for "Ganimed's" floundering were of an objective nature: the very low level of social activity of gay men and women, and that the very idea of a mass gay organization in the post Soviet state was groundless. Subjectively, "Ganimed" can be faulted in retrospect for an absence of clear-cut goals and activity plans, as well as for discord among the organization's leaders. The typical feature of gay activism in Ukraine in the next decade was the activity of small groups and separate activists. As a rule, group and activist work achieved at first only the organization of introduction (contact) services for gays and lesbians, and the dissemination of literature designed for gay readerships. Though the activity of such groups was often of an amateurish kind, it was of benefit for our common cause.

Some of the activists got in touch with journalists and medical men. In the long run, the work of these activists paved the way for the next stage - the creation of lesbian&gay organizations. They helped keep and pass along information and to maintain contacts among different regions.

The first organization of this kind, registered in December 1996, was the Association of gays, lesbians and bisexuals of Nikolaev "LiGA". It was also started as an introductory service. Sadly, over the span of the organization's existence it has not brought a single serious project into effect.

Apart from the struggle with discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the struggle to overcome homophobia in the mind of the public, the stated goals included the exact same propaganda as for non-gays: emphasizing a healthy lifestyle based on AIDS prevention.

In late 1999 another organization was registered in Kiev that emerged on the basis of the gay magazine "Odyn z nas" (One of us). It was created to support the publication.

The history and activity of Nash Mir (Our World) Center will be profiled below. We are convinced that the lesbian&gay community of Ukraine is standing on the threshold of the next stage of gay activism, and one of the objectives of our work is providing support or spin-off for the development of other lesbian and gay groups and organizations in Ukraine.

In regard to the creation or setup and ongoing activities of such organizations, of prime importance is the financing of their projects. Unfortunately, at the present time it is practically impossible to find such financing inside Ukraine. The major part of the population has a comparatively very low income (average wages do not exceed 50 US dollars per month). Really wealthy gay people certainly exist in Ukraine, but affluent homosexuals either carefully conceal their sexual orientation (not wishing to be visible in any way) or they are unwilling to be engaged in any charity activity to the extent that they could be seen as making a public endorsement of it.

Gay groups in Ukraine are definitely challenged. Where they emerge they have a tendency to confine themselves to their own company and stay isolated from local public life. This can be explained by many reasons, not the least being the indifference and hostility of some social and state organizations, and the general underdevelopment of the entire "third sector" in Ukraine. The obvious exception is the anti-AIDS centers mentioned in this Summary; the centers exhibit willingness to cooperate. Nevertheless, our experience testifies that human rights, journalistic and youth organizations - though few in number - can sometimes really help a young inexperienced group such as ours to further and evolve its work.

Gay mass media and business

Gay publications are almost absent in Ukraine. The most long-lived of them is Odyn z Nas magazine, which has been publishing intermittently for four years already. Yet the objective problems of marketing, printing costs, potential readers' lack of the cover price, etc. - and subjective reasons of discord within the editorial staff and with the publishers - constantly throw up serious obstacles to a publication's well-being. And, we must mention certain imported Russian publications that reach readers in our home Ukraine. In many places in Ukraine the Polish magazine Men (Nowy Men) has been available - though it has often been bought exclusively for its gay erotic and porno pictures.

Publishers of magazines that aspire to a broader readership and palpable profits try to disguise their editions as "advanced" or "erotic" publications; this approach clearly falls short of the mark. Not really fooled, readers understand the ploy and a magazine may get a stable reputation through a gay edition while going on disowning such a narrow specific genre. Even the aforementioned Odyn z Nas has as its name none other than "The journal of male aesthetics".

Commercial interests rarely take notice of gay people here and do not consider them as a group of potential consumers due to our comparatively small numbers. In recent times the gay club Hobo has regularly been in business in Kharkov. Yet Hobo, the only gay disco in a city of one and a half million inhabitants, opens its disco doors only once a week. It is attended by 30 to 60 persons (primarily regular patrons) and cannot be regarded as a gay business success. There are rumors, however, that certain featured events attract a much greater number of visitors.

On the whole, gay Ukrainian Internet sites give an impression of far greater activity than can actually be seen in real life. Many sites on the frothy gay-Uanet are mere "bubbles" that offer fictitious services. In fact, Ukrainian Internet in its big part is Russian-language and belongs to common net of the former Soviet Union, mostly Russia's network. Thus preferable language for communication in our part of the world is Russian, English at the second place. The best gay website here is undoubtedly www.gay.ru that also contains lots of useful links. Censorship in our networks is almost absent.

Even in the capital of Kiev, entertainment business aimed at gay audiences is far from stable. Various organizers attempted to fill the gay niche at various times. But organizers failed to unfold such business widely nor to hold their place in the niche for long. A disco named Big Boy Club has won the greatest success. Yet its owners even now do not try to publicize Big Boy Club for the public at large; they disseminate information about the club only through the gay community. An uninformed person has a hard time even finding this disco. Though it had already existed a couple of years, not so long ago a gay pub Brodyachaya Sobaka (Stray dog), belonging to the same commercial owners, was given a launch. Any kind of business in modern Ukraine is very risky and unpredictable. Because situation changes occur every day, any information in the business sphere grows outdated very soon.

Representatives of Nash Mir at the Gay Games Amsterdam 1998

Ties with the foreign gay community

Despite how modest and invisible the Ukrainian gay community and gay movement is, from the very beginning it has striven to get in touch with foreign organizations. At the very start, alas, these initiatives were clouded by an unpleasant happening: failure of the IX Regional Conference of ILGA (International Lesbian & Gay Association) for the countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe in May 1995. As a matter of fact, the conference was held but it was ill-organized and part of the money allocated by ILGA for conducting the conference disappeared in an unknown direction. So no serious discussions of the problems that the gay movement faces here and in nearby countries were held. Organization Dva Koliory (Two Colors) which was in charge of the conference was expelled from ILGA.

Nash Mir since then has established good cooperation with ILGA-Europe, and we sincerely hope that any negative image of our country in the world gay movement remains in the past. To the extent possible, taking into account our short-lived initiatives, some durable ties exist between Ukrainian and Polish organizations. Nash Mir also maintains long-standing contacts with not very numerous lesbian and gay Russian groups. The gay movement of Moldova that is taking shape at the moment is under the auspices of a project GenderDoc-M that has already organized two international conferences. Representatives of Ukraine were also invited to take part in them. Also, representatives of Nash Mir and other Ukrainian gay initiatives took part in two Belarus Gay Pride events organized by Belarus League Lambda in Minsk. We also have certain contacts with the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian gay movements. In October 2000 Nash Mir carried out an international conference on the situation of homosexual people in Eastern Europe, and on cooperation between gay organizations in our region.

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History of Nash Mir (Our World) Gay and Lesbian Center

In 1996 a small group of people began a project entitled "Information and education on the matter of homosexuality as an aspect of democratization of society in Ukraine." The mission of this project was to bring objective information about homosexuality into the open and to inspire homosexual people to more actively assert their right to a legal identity and to strive for a more respected social status.

Using financial support from the Dutch embassy in Kiev, we began printing a small magazine called Nash Mir (Our World). It became our voice in society and an essential means to accomplish the goals of our work. The guiding editorial concept was to publish a selection of differing information concerning homosexuality, information that hitherto had been nearly inaccessible to readers. We sought to present in Nash Mir various research findings about homosexuality, as well as "problem-focused" articles and information about the life of gay people in Ukraine and the world. Regarding gay people's lives, for example, we looked at their personal lifestyles and stories, and at summaries of the books and films touching on gayness, as well as at bibliographic notes and finally at materials on social, historic and legal questions. Due to Outreach Fund, in August 1998 Andriy Maymulakhin (our leader and the Editor of Nash Mir) was made welcome to participate in a storytelling Festival during Gay Games Amsterdam. He presented materials on gay lives in Eastern Europe and thereby gave good visibility to our efforts.

Moving forward logically, we created and brought into being an information and human rights organization called Nash Mir (Our World) Gay and Lesbian Center, which held its first assembly of constituents at the end of 1998. The organization's stated goals were these:

the protection of human rights and freedoms for homosexuals and the improvement of their legal position in the state by fighting against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
the improvement of society's attitudes towards homosexuality and people of homosexual orientation by addressing homophobic sentiments in the mass consciousness.
the support of gay and lesbian self-consciousness and pride as equal and valuable members of society.

Unfortunately, from the very beginning the organization met with the authorities' unwillingness to recognize its right to exist. In the course of applying for legal recognition as a public organization, we were confronted with this official unwillingness head on. But at last we won registration on November 30, 1999 after much struggle.

Some of the details of our quest for state registration have led us to believe that the state's denial was based on homophobia rather than on any actual legal questions. For example, the reasoning of an official of the Department of Justice who was directly involved in consideration of our case was clearly stated in a newspaper interview. He said "You see, it isn't that I do not want to legalize them. But how is it possible to recognize them on the state level, as a juridical person? A legislative base is absent, although it looks as if this orientation is not forbidden. Precedents [are absent] as well... . I [could] legalize them, but later [be] sorry [when] there will come onanists, then someone else... . And what about morality?"

Other startling things have occurred during the registration process. One lawyer even consulted with sexopathologists about the possibility of registering a public organization of gay import such as ours. In his inquiry to the Ministry of Justice, he even asked "whether the existence of citizens with anomalous sexual orientation is legal."

To our regret this procedural experience showed once again that in Ukrainian society "there are no problems" with respecting gay and lesbian rights so long as the subject is not discussed. But whenever we raise this question it turns out that Ukrainian gays and lesbians are in fact second-class citizens who are not treated according to the standard rules for citizens of our country. Thus, in the most convincing way this proves the necessity for the existence of organizations such as Nash Mir (Our World) Gay and Lesbian Center and for its information and human rights activity in Ukraine.

Of course we did not give up. The questionable answer to our application for legalization has been analyzed by lawyers of high professional standing; they did not find the Department's reasoning satisfactory. Based on these conclusions, the founders of the Center sued the Department of Justice. However, virtually all lawyers, knowing the reality of the current Ukrainian court system, did not consider this later variant or refinement of our original application would be good enough to win legalization for our organization. Courts indirectly but quite strongly depend on supervising bodies of justice. Preliminary hearing of our case in a district court revealed that we had very little chance to win an outcome favorable to us.

The court examination of our organization did, however, draw the attention of the advanced world community. The now exposed impasse over legalization was seen by the world community as a part of wider problems around the non-observance of gays' and lesbians' rights in Ukrainian society.

We are very grateful for the great help that we obtained during all this long, troublesome legal process from:

Amnesty International, which carried out a campaign enlisting support of Nash Mir. As far as we know the Ministry and the Department of Justice have received many protest letters from all over the world calling for the authorities to register and legalize our organization;

Ukrainian branch of Soros Foundation Network (International Renaissance Foundation), which lobbied our question in the Ministry of Justice and rendered legal assistance to us;

ILGA-Europe, which promoted drawing the Council of Europe's attention to our problems.

Unfortunately and despite all our appeals, we got virtually no support from Ukrainian human rights organizations.

Eventually the authorities have seen that it is impossible anymore to evade granting gays and lesbians the same rights as others, including the right to legalized associations, a right other citizens have.

Because of all these efforts by Nash Mir and the huge support for its efforts, the authorities were compelled to recognize and officially register our organization on November 30, 1999. This has become possible as an outcome of our struggle for one year.

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