The law, if introduced, would be very similar to Russia’s own anti-gay propaganda laws.
Ivano-Frankivsk city council, in western Ukraine, has sent a petition off to the government which seeks to ban LGBTQ people and relationships from being represented in the country.
The motion was originally tabled by the Christian Movement for Life, and the city’s mayor, Ruslan Martsinkov added it to the agenda. kurs.if.ua reported that none of the deputies had read what Martsinkov had added to the agenda before the vote.
The petition came about because “the authorities have not yet decided on the state strategy of development and support of the family.”
It further reads: “Today there are many challenges that affect the situation of people and families in Ukraine: orphanhood, children with disabilities, children with special needs, single mothers, single-parent families, impossibility to fully exercise their constitutional rights to treatment, education, housing, social protection, decent living standards.
“At the same time, for unknown reasons, the state gives priority attention only to the artificially created problem of so-called discrimination against people with unconventional sexual orientation.”
The petition has seven points that it wants the government to act on. The first point is that the ban on same-sex marriages is upheld. The second point asks for phrases like “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to be banned from all current and future government documents. This is because these words are apparently “ideological” and “anti-scientific.”
The third point says that the government should backtrack on the adoption of the “Law of Ukraine “On Civil Partnership”, provided for in Article 105, paragraph 6, of the Action Plan for the implementation of the National Strategy for Human Rights for the period up to 2020.”
The fourth point wants to remove “provisions on sexual education aimed at overcoming gender stereotypes” from school textbooks. The fifth point is one of the worst ones. It asks for the government to “prohibit the propagation of various types of deviant sexual behavior,” including “”marches of equality”, “pride”, “gay parades”, “festivals of flower-culture”, etc.” It also calls on the government to adopt the “Law of Ukraine On the Prohibition of the Promotion of Homosexuality.”
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The sixth point calls for the creation of a “Ministry of Family Affairs,” which would be headed by someone who is “known for their devotion to protect the interests of the family and morals in Ukrainian society.”
The final point, is potentially the worst, as it calls on the government to stop amending the Constitution in ways that distort “the definitions of family, marriage, paternity, maternity and childhood.” In essence, this could ban future governments from legalising things like same-sex marriage.
An anonymous gay Ukrainian said: “Ivano-Frakivisk is at the cultural centre of Ukraine. Although Rada [the Ukrainian central government] can reject the bid, it shows that the situation is just getting worse.
“Conditions for LGBT+ Ukrainians are bad enough as it is. Nationalists can hunt out LGBT+ people just for fun and if they have protection through law, it will become even worse, just like in Russia.
“If the petition becomes legislation, the LGBT+ community will go underground forever and lots of people will have to leave country.”
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