First gay wedding in Ukraine, though not official yet
The first public gay wedding took place in Kyiv. April 9, 2016, Tymur Levchuk and Zoryan Kis “got married” after four years of relationship. Although the marriage is not legally recognized in Ukraine, the guys are happy they are finally together.
The men shared their impressions on their Facebook pages.
“I am at the wedding for the first time. In fact, it was very cute. You are brave and this is cool!” colleague from the all-Ukrainian Charitable Organization “Fulcrum” Liza Kuzmenko congratulates the spouses.
The human rights activists compare this event to the act of Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to a white man in public transport, opposing racism in the middle of the twentieth century.
“Though marriage is not legally recognized in Ukraine, these events set a precedent: there is a significant part of society that is forced to live in the shadow,” says human rights activist Tetiana Pechonchyk.
According to the NGO “Gay Alliance of Ukraine” (GAU), over a million members of the LGBT community live in Ukraine, 47% of them are in a relationship.
To defend everyone’s right to life together, the GAU has recently launched a social advertising campaign. The billboards with gay couples appeared in Kyiv since the beginning of April.
The billboards with a couple of young people say that “They have the right to life together” while the billboards with a couple of older men say that “They have the right to meeting old age together.”
According to the organizers, the similar billboards with lesbian couples will appear at the end of the spring.
“The action plan for the human rights strategy up to 2020 provides for a draft law on civil partnerships which should be developed by the end of 2017, including for same-sex couples. This issue will be raised in the society sooner or later. After all, the homosexual couples as well as heterosexual couples should have equal rights and the opportunity to legalize their relations,” comments Yuri Yorksky, GAU’s program director.
