Violence against gays inUkraine captured for whole world to see.
When Ukraine’s gay community heard from police that the parade they were planning on May 20 was under threat from attack, they didn’t hesitate to cancel to protect participants’ safety.
What happened next confirmed their fears and shamed Ukraine in front of the world as a homophobic country that cannot protect its minorities.
Sviatoslav Sheremet, head of the Gay Forum, and parade organizer Maksym Kasianchuk were attacked with pepper spray by a group of a dozen or so masked young men. Sheremet was then beaten in a bloody attack that was caught on camera.
“They yelled, ‘You faggot get out of Ukraine!’” said Sheremet, who is now recovering at home from a concussion, bruises and a black eye.
The video was soon loaded on the Internet and highlighted across the world as evidence of the discrimination and violence that minorities suffer in Ukraine.
The organizers had hoped to hold a parade to draw attention to the problems of the gay community in this country. They chose a date close to the Euro 2012 football tournament as they thought authorities wouldn’t dare refuse permission.
The parade was allowed to proceed, but reports emerged that messages were posted on some social networking websites calling on “tough men” to break the march.
Some activists and global rights group Amnesty International blame police for not doing enough to protect participants.
Sheremet now calls for more attention to rising homophobia in Ukraine and problems of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. “How many people will have to be attacked in order for life to become easier for us in Ukraine?” Sheremet said.
Ukraine is a conservative society where minorities are often treated as outsiders. In Soviet times, homosexuality was treated as a criminal offense.
Being gay in Ukraine is viewed as so shameful and dangerous that many members of the community with whom the Kyiv Post spoke declined to give their last names or have their pictures taken.
Kyiv resident Oleh, 33, recently told his mother he was gay. “She said I am a disgrace to the family and that she regrets giving birth to me,” he said.
Oleh said he is not surprised by the assault on Sheremet as he and most of his friends have been attacked because of their sexuality.
“Usually it happens outside gay clubs. When I see suspicious people around me I go to crowded places or just walk away,” he said.
Our society is traditional and just does not tolerate homosexuality. If some people are suffering from the mental illness of homosexuality, they should not display it in public and promote it to children,
– Yevhen Tsarkov, a lawmaker from the Communist Party
Oleh said that most gays do not report the attacks as they do not trust the police.
“If you go to the police and say you were beaten up because you are gay, they will not only find a reason to open a criminal case. Also, the whole police department will gather to look at the ‘faggot.’”
Police spokesman Volodymyr Polishchuk said law enforcers did the best they could to defend the parade, adding that a criminal case may be opened into the beating of Sheremet.
While homosexuality is legal in Ukraine and any kind of discrimination is forbidden, only 50 percent of Ukrainians believe that gay and lesbian people should be free to live life as they wish, according to 2010 European Social Survey data.
It’s not only being gay that is dangerous, but even talking about homosexuality is seen as taboo. On May 19, a photo exhibition dedicated to gay couples was attacked by young men who destroyed almost all the photos.
Photographer Yevheniya Belorusets said she had visited homes of gay and lesbian couples and taken their pictures in order to show how gay people are “as normal as anyone else.”
Life might get even harder if parliament passes a draft law it is considering that would restrict the distribution of and access to information “promoting homosexuality.”
The draft bill, which would amend several laws, including the law on protection of public morals, laws on media and the Criminal Code, has passed committee hearings, the last step before being heard in parliament.
Rights activists cry foul, saying it is discriminatory and uses unclear language that could be broadly applied.
The bill’s authors say they are protecting family values.
“Our society is traditional and just does not tolerate homosexuality. If some people are suffering from the mental illness of homosexuality, they should not display it in public and promote it to children,” said Yevhen Tsarkov, a lawmaker from the Communist Party and one of the authors of the bill.
At least nine other members of parliament actively support Tsarkov’s position and wrote a letter to Kyiv municipal authorities demanding that they ban the parade to “protect morals.”
The Ukrainian office of the European Union, which Ukraine wants to join, has expressed its concern about the cancelling of the parade and the violence against its organizers.
“The values of pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality are common to the EU member states, and are at the foundation of the European Union. The EU is committed to uphold and promote these values in its relations with partner countries, encouraging full respect to the human rights of all persons,” the statement reads.
Sheremet said Ukrainian society suffers from discrimination that runs much deeper that the issue of homosexuality.
“People who attack gays are usually same right wing activists who attack foreigners and people of dark skin color. This issue needs to be addressed by the government,” he said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at [email protected]
