Kyiv has held yet another peaceful Equality March, with a record number of 8,000 attendees rallying in the city center on June 23.
The march, an annual tradition since 2013, calls for equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer — or LGBTQ — people. It also attracts embassies, international organizations, activists, celebrities and a broad spectrum of people of all sexual orientations who support LGBTQ rights.
As in years past, police presence at the 2019 march was extensive and radical right-wing and religous groups came out to hold counterdemonstrations.
Several opponents of the march attempted to provoke violence among the participants.
The National Police announced that they had detained nine people suspected of preparing provocations against the Equality March before the beginning of the rally. No one was detained during the march.
“It’s just incredible impressions,” said Ruslana Panukhnyk, director of the Kyiv Pride non-profit group, which organizes the march.
“We are very glad that more people than last year came to support us,” she told the Kyiv Post.
The number of participants in the Equality March has risen over the years. In 2017, the rally had 3,500 participants. In 2018, 5,000 took part.
Apart from several attempted provocations, the 2019 march went off with hardly a hitch. The participants started off at around 10 a.m. from an area near the National Opera of Ukraine, marched a short route around roughly two blocks of the city center, and concluded near the Teatralna metro station an hour later.
The rally was more diverse than previous ones, something that particularly pleased organizers, Panukhnyk told the Kyiv Post.
This year, groups of military service people and veterans and government employees from the Ministry of Health joined the march for the first time. There was also a large group of people carrying transgender flags — the first ever organized transgender column in the march, according to activist and journalist Maksym Eristavi.
Veteran participants were also in attendance, including Rebecca Harms, a former member of the European Parliament and an active supporter of Ukraine.
This was Harms’ sixth Equality March in Ukraine. She told the Kyiv Post that she planned her trip to Ukraine for this part of the month in order to be able to join the rally.
“I am one of those who are very proud that the Ukrainian state decided four years ago to protect the right to march, the right of public assembly and the right of the freedom of speech for the Kyiv Pride,” Harms told the Kyiv Post.
Harms believes that having a peaceful Pride march in Kyiv is an important development for the respect of civil rights in Ukraine and a signal that democracy is functioning in the country.
“I’m here because I like to share this success story,” she said.
Representatives from numerous embassies also joined the rally. Among them was Roman Waschuk, Canada’s ambassador to Ukraine.
“We’re here because Canada is an equality-seeking and promoting country. It’s taken our own country a while to move in the right direction to make sure everyone has equal rights. And we want to share that experience with others,” Waschuk told the Kyiv Post.
Several Ukrainian celebrities also came out to support equal rights. Designer Ivan Frolov, musician and singer Kostiantyn Dmytriev (known as Constantine onstage) and the members of the ethno-electronic duo YUKO marched in the leading column.
Despite the broad success of the Equality March, organizers had to changed the planned route after opponents of LGBTQ rights gathered to protest near the main building of Taras Shevchenko National University of Ukraine. Largely from far-right and religious groups, the counterprotesters came out to support “traditional values” and opposite-sex marriage. Some carried signs featuring homophobic slurs.
The Equality March’s slogan this year seemed a direct response to the counterprotesters: “Our tradition is freedom.”
Large numbers of law enforcement officers escorted the rally along its route, following marchers all the way to their destination. Police reacted quickly to provocations.
In a briefing after the march, National Police Chief Serhiy Knyazev said that fewer officers were involved than in 2018. In previous years, there sometimes were more police than marchers.
The Equality March’s success was especially significant for members of the LGBTQ community.
For Anton Hanbir, a 24-year-old gay man who has attended three such marches in Kyiv, Kyiv Pride is an important annual event.
The activist and volunteer with Gay Alliance Ukraine says that the rally has gotten more diverse and creative. This year, there were more original slogans and signs, he told the Kyiv Post.
Hanbir compares attending the Equality March to having something essential for only a short period of time once a year.
“It’s as if you didn’t breathe the whole year and then somebody brings you an oxygen cylinder. You put on a mask and finally breathe,” Hanbir told the Kyiv Post.
“On the one hand, it’s a blessing,” he said. “But on the other hand, it’s terrible because we need to breathe every day.
