{"id":2112,"date":"2025-12-08T11:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T08:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gay.org.ua\/en\/?p=2112"},"modified":"2026-02-08T14:22:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T11:22:42","slug":"lgbtq-situation-in-ukraine-january-september-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gay.org.ua\/en\/blog\/2025\/12\/08\/lgbtq-situation-in-ukraine-january-september-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"LGBTQ situation in Ukraine, January\u2013September 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” _i=”0″ _address=”0.0″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_post_title author=”off” date_format=”j F, Y” comments=”off” featured_image=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.76″ title_all_caps=”off” background_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0)” parallax=”on” parallax_method=”off” parallax_effect=”on” module_bg_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0)”]<\/p>\n
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The publication presents information reflecting the social, legal and political situation of LGBTQ people in Ukraine in January\u2013September 2025: it provides data and an analysis of the situation regarding the protection of the rights and interests of LGBTQ people in legislation, their role in socio-political life, and examples of cases of rights violations on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. The report also presents the results of the latest public opinion survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, commissioned by the Nash Svit Center, which demonstrate consistently positive changes in Ukrainian society\u2019s attitudes towards LGBTQ issues in recent years.<\/p>\n
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Since the beginning of 2025, no noticeable changes in the legislation related to the protection of LGBTQ rights in Ukraine happened, but the task of adopting relevant laws was included in the Roadmap for Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Similarly, the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity has been included in few regulatory documents of various state institutions. The Ukrainian government has demonstrated its readiness to implement the recommendations of its international partners to achieve modern European standards in this area, which cannot be said about the Ukrainian parliament.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe main obstacle to the adoption of laws and policies to protect LGBTQ rights in Ukraine remains the influential leading Ukrainian Christian churches. They try their best to avoid public discussion of these topics, but when forced to respond to events related to LGBTQ issues, they demonstrate sharing the views of Russian propaganda.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nWith the support of human rights organisations and international partners of our country, the Ukrainian LGBTQ movement is conducting an active advocacy campaign to promote equality and combat violence and discrimination against the LGBTQ community, especially LGBTQ military. The attitude towards them in the Ukrainian military remains problematic, but with the help of the Gender Advisor of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Military Ombudsman, the situation is improving.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe National Police, in general, provides effective protection for LGBTQ events from their aggressive opponents belonging to radical right-wing groups, but the situation with the investigation of hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity remains extremely unsatisfactory.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe latest public opinion poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology confirms a steady trend of improving the attitude of Ukrainian society towards the protection of LGBTQ people\u2019s rights.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n1. GENERALIZED SOCIO-POLITICAL SITUATION<\/h4>\n
LEGISLATION AND JUDICIARY<\/strong><\/p>\nSince the beginning of 2025, there have been no significant changes in Ukrainian legislation regarding the protection of LGBTQ rights. The bills on civil partnership and on amendments to anti-discrimination and criminal legislation, previously submitted to the parliament, have not yet been considered. According to the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, due to the resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers, governmental Bill 5488 (amendments to criminal, administrative and anti-discrimination legislation) was withdrawn. At the same time, a group of MPs registered a new Bill 13597 which differs little from withdrawn Bill 5488.<\/p>\n
On February 11, 2025, the Verkhovna Rada withdrawn homo \/ transphobic Bill 6325 from consideration. Meanwhile, Bill 6327, which proposes to introduce administrative liability for \u201cpropaganda of homosexuality and transgenderism,\u201d was included in the agenda of the parliament\u2019s current session \u2014 however, given the fate of all similar bills, its consideration and adoption seem extremely unlikely.<\/p>\n
On January 23, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights issued a judgment in the case of Sverdlova and Shevchenko v. Ukraine<\/em> concerning the ban on holding an event on May 25, 2013, on protection of LGBTQ people\u2019s rights, imposed by the decision of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv City of May 23, 2013, following a lawsuit by the Kyiv City State Administration. The ECtHR decided that the plaintiffs were effectively deprived of the opportunity to appeal this decision, which concerned a violation of their right to peaceful assembly, to an appeal court, and found a violation of Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights \u201cRight to an effective remedy\u201d in conjunction with Article 14 \u201cProhibition of discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\nOn June 10, 2025, the Desnyanskyi District Court of Kyiv, considering a claim for establishing a fact of legal significance, established the existence of a de facto marital relationship between two men who had previously married each other in the United States. The plaintiffs were same-sex partners who, according to Article 3 of the Family Code of Ukraine, constitute a family. Ukrainian laws allow such permanent partners to enjoy very limited rights of family members, but this requires prior establishment of the fact of their family relationship in court. Similar decisions regarding same-sex partners in Ukraine have been made before, but in this case the court established not only the fact of their family relationship, but also characterized them as a \u201cde facto marital relationship\u201d \u2014 which, however, does not mean legal recognition of their marriage concluded abroad.<\/p>\n
The homophobic movement \u201cVsi razom!\u201d (\u201cAll Together!\u201d), which did not participate in the case, tried to appeal this decision in the Kyiv Court of Appeal, but was unsuccessful: the court decided that the appeal did not contain arguments referring to specific circumstances that would indicate the impact of the contested court decision on the rights, freedoms, interests and\/or obligations of the NGO \u201cVsi razom!\u201d.<\/p>\n
STATE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES, ARMED FORCES OF UKRAINE, LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the Roadmaps for political and legislative reforms, the ultimate goal of which is Ukraine\u2019s accession to the EU. The Roadmap on the rule of law contains a separate Section 3.11 \u201cDiscrimination against LGBTIQ people\u201d which includes four actions aimed at addressing these issues:<\/p>\n
\n- development and adoption of a bill on amendments to anti-discrimination, criminal and administrative legislation regarding hate crimes, discrimination and hate speech based on sexual orientation and gender identity;<\/li>\n
- introducing registration of hate crimes based on these grounds;<\/li>\n
- amending the Law of Ukraine \u201cOn Free Legal Aid\u201d in order to ensure the provision of free secondary legal aid to victims of criminal offenses motivated by intolerance on grounds of gender identity and sexual orientation;<\/li>\n
- development and adoption of a bill on registered civil partnership.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The deadlines for implementing these measures are 2025-2026. However, based on the previous experience of the legislative work of the government and parliament, the adoption of the relevant draft laws by the Verkhovna Rada within the specified deadlines seems unlikely. The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk has already stated that currently legislative initiatives on civil partnerships are not a priority. The situation can only be changed by active lobbying of bills on civil partnerships and on amendments to anti-discrimination and criminal legislation by international organisations and Ukraine’s foreign partners.<\/p>\n
Unlike the parliament, the Ukrainian government demonstrates a fairly consistent policy of taking into account the rights and interests of LGBTQ people in various spheres of life. Thus, the Strategy for the Development of the Healthcare System for the Period until 2030, approved by an order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, provides for the development of the healthcare system on the principles of equal and fair access to quality medical services without discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity (hereinafter abbreviated as SOGI).<\/p>\n
The National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service has approved amendments to the General Rules of Ethical Conduct of Civil Servants and Local Government Officials, which stipulate that civil servants and local government officials are obliged to prevent hate speech on a number of grounds, including sexual orientation, in their activities.<\/p>\n
The State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection became responsible for monitoring the content of job advertisements and their compliance with anti-discrimination legislation in this field \u2014 in particular, regarding the prohibition of discrimination on SOGI grounds in employment.<\/p>\n
On the occasion of the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia , the Council for Human Rights, Gender Equality and Diversity under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, together with the embassies of foreign states, the EU Delegation and the Council of Europe Office in Kyiv, as last year, adopted a joint statement on commitment to ensuring equal rights, protecting human dignity and preventing all forms of discrimination. Deputy Minister Maryana Betsa, along with foreign diplomats, participated in the official opening of LGBT+ Veterans Hub.<\/p>\n
On September 25, for the first time in Ukraine\u2019s history, the government appointed an open gay, LGBTQ activist Ivan Verbytskyi, to a high position \u2014 Deputy Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications.<\/p>\n
The National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting \u2014 the national media regulator \u2014 issued a second injunction and subsequently twice fined the website of homo\/transphobic movement \u201cVsi razom!\u201d for publishing materials that spread negative stereotypes, support restrictions on rights, and may provoke violence against the LGBTQ community. NGO \u201cVsi razom!\u201d appealed both fines (40,000 and 88,000 UAH) in the Kyiv District Administrative Court which has not yet considered these cases.<\/p>\n
The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Dmytro Lubinets, and his office have been quite active in responding to cases of human rights violations and hate speech based on SOGI. In the Report on the State of Observance and Protection of Human and Civil Rights and Freedoms in Ukraine in 2024, the Ukrainian Ombudsman once again drew attention to the need to adopt a law on civil registered partnership and amendments to criminal and anti-discrimination legislation related to the protection of LGBTQ people\u2019s rights. The Commissioner\u2019s Secretariat responded to the refusal of the Kyiv printing house Dominanta-tekstil to print the flag of the organisation \u201cLGBT+ Military and Veterans for Equal Rights,\u201d warning its director that the printing house\u2019s actions \u201chave signs of discrimination against consumers based on sexual orientation and gender identity\u201d that is prohibited by Ukrainian law.<\/p>\n
Understanding the danger from their aggressive opponents and the demands of wartime, organisers of public LGBTQ events coordinated their holding with local state and military administrations and the police in advance. As a rule, local authorities and the police tried to dissuade the organisers from their plans, but after lengthy negotiations they would agree to provide their security. However, one of the events planned as a part of KyivPride on the territory of an exhibition centre was cancelled due to pressure from the police and local authorities on the tenants of the pavilion where the event was to take place.<\/p>\n
In the vast majority of cases, however, the National Police in 2025 provided effective protection for LGBTQ events in various cities of the country from their aggressive opponents, who, for the most part, consisted of young men, often teenagers, under the banners of far-right organisations. In addition to the already traditional LGBTQ prides in Kyiv and Kharkiv, as well as the Kyiv queer film festival Sunny Bunny, the police, supposedly for the first time, ensured the more or less successful holding of public LGBTQ events in the West of the country \u2014 in Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv.<\/p>\n
A blatant case of obviously discriminatory and hostile attitude towards LGBTQ people was demonstrated by law enforcement officers during a police raid on the gay nightclub Dark Room in Kyiv. One of the men, who were detained and accused of disobeying the police and petty hooliganism, appealed the administrative report drawn up against him in the Holosiivskyi District Court of Kyiv. At the trial, he and other victims of police actions spoke about insults, bullying, psychological pressure and physical violence, and other illegal actions against them by the police. The court not only closed the case against this person due to the absence of the body of an administrative offense, but also issued a separate ruling on the illegal actions of police officers. It was brought to the attention of the head of the Holosiivskyi Division of the Main Police Department in Kyiv, the head of the Main Police Department in Kyiv, and the head of the National Police of Ukraine in order to take appropriate response actions in this regard, about which they were to report to the court within one month from the date of its receipt.<\/p>\n
In September 2025, the President of Ukraine established the Office of the Military Ombudsman, headed by Olha Reshetylova, who had been previously appointed the Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for the Protection of the Rights of Military Personnel and Their Family Members. In an interview with Radio Kultura, she answered a question about the protection of the LGBTQ military personnel rights: \u201cProvisionally, the staffing list, which we are making, will include an entire unit that will deal with issues of gender equality and anti-discrimination. Of course, the issues of LGBT military personnel and their protection in the army are very important. We must welcome all categories of the population to the Armed Forces. It is clear that LGBT military personnel also defend our state, but due to certain stereotypes in society, they are exposed to oppression, and we have to address this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NGO \u201cUkrainian LGBT+ Military and Veterans for Equal Rights\u201d (abbreviated as \u201cMilitary LGBT+\u201d) conducted the first major study on the situation of LGBTQ military personnel, which revealed the problems they face in the army: harassment, psychological pressure, unequal treatment and ignoring of complaints by the command, etc., up to physical violence by fellow soldiers. However, this study did not have the opportunity to quantitatively assess the prevalence of such phenomena. At the same time, some respondents noted that they did not encounter pronounced homophobia in their military service, but on the contrary, received psychological support from comrades and commanders. In general, it may be stated that the situation of LGBTQ people in the Ukrainian military does not fundamentally differ from the attitude towards them in society as a whole.<\/p>\n
\u201cMilitary LGBT+\u201d also reported a case where, thanks to the legal support of this organisation, a commander, who discriminated against non-binary soldier Evelyn from the International Legion, was demoted.<\/p>\n
Like last year, in 2025 the Kyiv City State Administration celebrated Pride Month by painting its Facebook logo in rainbow colours and declaring its consistent support for the policy of equality, tolerance, and accessibility.<\/p>\n
During this year, we did not detected previously traditional appeals to the central government from local governments with demands to prevent the adoption of laws protecting LGBTQ rights or, conversely, proposals to adopt laws restricting them. At the same time, the Odesa and Lviv regional councils asked the Verkhovna Rada to denounce the Istanbul Convention \u201cdue to the demographic catastrophe.\u201d Supposedly, understanding futility of their appeals and their purely ritualistic nature, the members of these regional councils, however, formulated this request in the mildest possible form: \u201cin the case if the sufficiency of national legislation on combating violence is established, consider the possibility of initiating the process of denouncing the Convention.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding the holding of what is likely was the first open LGBTQ event in the city, Ivano-Frankivsk Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv, known for his repeated homophobic statements, once again noted that he did not support the LGBTQ community, but \u201cThere is current legislation that provides for holding certain events. Accordingly, if the law is not violated, people have the right to hold such events. [\u2026] The law is the law, and we must abide by it. But we openly and frankly express our position \u2014 regarding both the Ukrainian language and Christian values.\u201d<\/p>\n
POLITICS, MASS MEDIA AND SOCIETY<\/strong><\/p>\nThe registration of Bill 13597 (amendments to criminal, administrative and anti-discrimination legislation) demonstrated that an informal but effective group in support of equal rights for LGBTQ people has been formed in the Verkhovna Rada, to which new members of the parliament are gradually being attracted. This bill was initiated by 32 MPs, mainly from the Servant of the People and Holos factions, while the initiative groups of previous bills of this kind were at least half as small. The leaders of this informal group and its most active members are Inna Sovsun (Holos) and Olena Shulyak, the head of the Servant of the People party.<\/p>\n
The most unexpected thing, however, was that the initiators of Bill 13597 was joined by Heorhii Mazurashu MP, previously infamous for his homophobic and transphobic proposals. It is difficult to explain his motivation, but it is clear that support for initiatives to protect the rights of LGBTQ people in the Ukrainian parliament is gradually growing.<\/p>\n
It is noteworthy that principled opponents of equal rights for LGBTQ people in the Verkhovna Rada \u2014 particularly, Ihor Fris and Yulia Tymoshenko \u2014 refrained from public comments on the relevant legislative initiatives in 2025. Yulia Tymoshenko and Danylo Hetmantsev MP (Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, Servant of the People faction) expressed their indignation at the holding of a queer film festival in Kyiv on the eve and during Orthodox Easter and called on its organisers to cancel the event, but neither the festival itself nor its opponents attracted much public attention.<\/p>\n
On June 11, a member of the Lviv Oblast Council from the European Solidarity party, a priest of the OCU Mykola Bilyak, registered a petition to the Mayor of Lviv and members of the Lviv City Council demanding \u201cto prevent events organised by LGBT communities from being held in Lviv\u201d directed against a public action planned for June 14 to protect the rights of transgender people. The petition received the required 500 votes, but has never been considered, and the planned event successfully took place under police protection.<\/p>\n
A homophobic statement was made as well by the head of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Council Mykola Lukashuk, reacting to the words of Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson that Ukraine should regulate the legislation on same-sex partnerships within the framework of European integration. Although the Swedish Prime Minister did not say anything about same-sex marriages, Mykola Lukashuk saw in his words the imposition of those and the \u201cLGBT agenda\u201d in general, which, in his opinion, contradicts the cultural identity and social values of Ukraine. As in the case of the queer film festival, these events did not receive much publicity and public reaction.<\/p>\n
Along with the activation of the LGBTQ movement, its opponents from the far-right organisations also became more active, consistently trying to block and disrupt all public LGBTQ events in cities such as Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk. However, everywhere they encountered effective police protection of these events \u2014 even in Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, where previously local authorities and police tried in every way to avoid their duty to ensure freedom of peaceful assembly of the LGBTQ community. The police, however, did not pay attention to direct calls for violence against LGBTQ that were publicly voiced by right-wing radicals \u2014 for example, during the Volunteers’ March in Kyiv on March 14, a group of young people under the flags of far-right organisations chanted \u201cTo all LGBT supporters \u2014 death, death, death!\u201d to which the police accompanying the march did not react in any way.<\/p>\n
Public and political support for aggressive homophobic calls and actions in Ukraine, however, remains low, and those are increasingly associated with the aggressor country \u2014 Russia. This can be illustrated by an incident happened on August 18, during the farewell ceremony to the deceased soldier, artist, and anarchist David Chichkan in the center of Kyiv, on Maidan Nezalezhnosti. A group of soldiers from the Russian Volunteer Corps (which is fighting for Ukraine, but consists of Russian citizens) led by its commander Denis Nikitin attacked Ukrainian LGBTQ soldiers who were holding a rainbow flag (David Chichkan was an ally of the LGBTQ community). Left-wing anarchists, who were present at the farewell, sprayed the attackers with pepper spray, and everyone present and many commentators on social networks explained to attackers that Ukraine is not Russia, and we here are not happy to see demonstration of our enemy\u2019s traditional values.<\/p>\n
The most active and visible opponent of the LGBTQ community in Ukraine remains the Civic Movement \u201cVsi razom!\u201d represented by its leader, journalist and Pentecostal preacher Ruslan Kukharchuk (nothing is known about the other members of this organisation). The website of \u201cVsi razom!\u201d is the main source of homo \/ transphobic publications then being distributed by Ukrainian ultra-conservative and religious media, for which it has already been fined twice by the national media regulator, and Kukharchuk himself is the organiser and leader of various public events supporting discrimination and inciting hatred against his LGBTQ fellow citizens.<\/p>\n
Such was, for example, the so-called March of Tradition \u2014 an action of opponents of the Equality March, which both simultaneously took place in Kyiv on June 14, 2025. As last year, the presence of \u201cVsi razom!\u201d movement supporters at this event was almost invisible \u2014 several hundred demonstrators consisted, for the most part, of young people under the flags of far-right groups, who hid their faces under masks, and some of them even openly demonstrated the Nazi salute. Similarly, Ruslan Kukharchuk led a small protest against the bill on the criminalization of hate crimes on SOGI grounds, which took place under the Ministry of Justice building on May 13. The crowd of this action also consisted of young people under the flags of various far-right groups.<\/p>\n
Another direction of Ruslan Kukharchuk’s activity \u2014 organising appeals from local governments to state authorities with homophobic demands \u2014 has been showing a clear decline in recent years; in 2025, if they took place at all, it was completely imperceptible.<\/p>\n
On the contrary, the Ukrainian Catholic University\u2019s refusal to provide a dormitory to a student who posted a rainbow flag emoji on her Instagram page turned out to be very prominent (this incident is discussed in more detail in the next section of this report). This case attracted a lot of public attention and led to numerous discussions and debates on topics that Ukrainian churches would prefer to ignore. It cannot be said that any particular opinion dominated these discussions, but, perhaps, this was the first time when the attitude of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and Ukrainian churches in general towards LGBTQ people has provoked such a lively public discussion and condemnation from the believers of these churches themselves \u2014 until now, the voice of liberal believers has been almost inaudible.<\/p>\n
In 2025, some businesses and institutions in Ukraine did not, as before, paint their logos in rainbow colours during the Pride Month, particularly mobile operators Kyivstar, Lifecel, and Vodafone as well as taxi service Uklon \u2014 apparently, due to the influence of the transphobic and homophobic policies of the new US government. At the same time, this action was again supported by the Kyiv City State Administration, Privatbank, the household appliances and electronics retail corporation Comfy, TV channels Novyi and Kyiv24, the bookstore Ye, the Odessa National Art Museum, the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, the Ukrainian Institute, state postal service Ukrposhta, the largest marketplace Prom.ua and many others.<\/p>\n
Another public opinion survey<\/a>, conducted in early October 2025 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (abbreviated as KIIS) at the request of Nash Svit Center, like similar surveys in the three previous years, demonstrated a trend of slow but steady improvement in Ukrainian society’s attitude towards LGBTQ people and the protection of their rights.<\/p>\nIn particular, over the past three years, the number of people in Ukraine who have a generally negative attitude towards LGBTQ persons has remained virtually unchanged and is about a third of the population. Meanwhile, the share of those who have a generally positive attitude towards LGBTQ people has increased by 4.5% over the past year, which is a statistically significant indicator. The vast majority (slightly less than half of the population) are indifferent.<\/p>\n
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At the same time, even a negative attitude towards LGBTQ people does not necessarily mean a denial of their human dignity and rights. Sociologists of the KIIS note, \u201cIt is also important to understand that, as before, the category of citizens who have a \u2018negative\u2019 attitude towards LGBT people is not actually crystallized consistent opponents. As other survey results have shown, those who have a \u2018negative\u2019 attitude towards LGBT people mostly welcome their participation in defending Ukraine from Russian aggression, more than half of them support equal rights for LGBT people, and more than a third are even positive or at least indifferent to the idea of a registered partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n
The share of those, who believe that LGBT people should have the same rights as other citizens of Ukraine, in 2025 was 78.1%, which is 7.7% more than in 2024 and 14.4% more than in 2022. This opinion prevails among all socio-demographic categories into which sociologists divided respondents (gender, age, region, type of settlement, education, employment, family well-being), accounting for at least 72%.<\/p>\n
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The introduction of registered civil partnerships for same-sex couples in 2025 was supported by 29.8% of respondents, 30.1% were indifferent, and 35.1% were against it. Thus, only slightly more than a third of Ukrainians oppose it now. If in 2022 the gap between those who support civil partnerships for same-sex couples and those who oppose it was 18.3% in favour of the latter, in 2025 it decreased to 5.3%. Among younger age groups, the number of civil partnership supporters already outweighs the number of its opponents (for respondents aged 18-29 \u2014 33.4% versus 29.2%; 30-39 \u2014 40.3% versus 28.4%, respectively).<\/p>\n
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In 2025, about 70% of respondents had a positive attitude towards the participation of LGBT people in resisting Russian aggression. The highest rate of negative attitude was 12% (for residents of villages and Western regions of Ukraine as a whole).<\/p>\n
CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\nLeading Ukrainian churches, united in the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations, continue to demonstrate absolute rejection and intolerance towards LGBTQ people, oppose any steps to protect their rights, and avoid public discussions on such topics. However, they are forced to respond to certain events related to LGBTQ issues, the public discussion of which demonstrates both the confusion of church leadership in the face of today’s challenges and an ambiguous attitude towards these issues among ordinary believers and clergy.<\/p>\n
In April 2025, the odious Metropolitan Luka of Zaporizhzhya (Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate) appealed to religious leaders of Ukraine to speak out against the Sunny Bunny queer film festival in Kyiv, which this year fell on Easter. Although several unpopular politicians expressed their indignation at such an (accidental) coincidence of a Christian holiday and an LGBTQ event, no one among prominent religious figures responded to Metropolitan Luka’s call, not even his colleagues \u2014 bishops of the UOC. It should be noted that currently the UOC (MP) enjoys a very negative reputation in Ukrainian society and religious circles due to its refusal to sever ties with the mother Russian Orthodox Church, and Metropolitan Luka is considered one of its most conservative and pro-Russian hierarchs.<\/p>\n
The leadership of the main competitor of the UOC (MP), the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, however, was publicly outraged by the holding of a small rally to protect the rights of LGBTQ people beside the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, which is located near the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery of the OCU: \u201cThe Kyiv Metropolitanate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine considers the chosen place, time and purpose of this event as a deliberate cynical anti-church provocation aimed at its scandalous advertising.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the attitude towards LGBTQ people in the ranks of the OCU clergy is not so unambiguous. Scandalously known for his far-right and anti-European views, the OCU priest Yaroslav Kulyk expressed the opinion that the Russian attack on Kyiv on June 17 was \u201cGod\u2019s retribution\u201d for the LGBT pride march that took place in the capital on June 14, which caused a lot of indignant comments and even theological discussions, including from his fellow priests. At the same time, the priest of the Ternopil Diocese of the OCU, Oleksiy Filyuk, quite popular for his videos on social networks, stated that, although he does not question the biblical teaching about the sinfulness of homosexual marriages and would not agree to marry a same-sex couple, he does not see anything terrible in the very fact of its existence: \u201cIf Hanka
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