Ukraine Poised to Follow Russia’s Anti-Gay Example

Jim Burroway

February 17th, 2014

There’s a larger debate right now taking place in Ukraine over the question of the country’s future direction: will they look to the West or Russia. That larger debate, of course, isn’t settled, as the country continues to be rocked by protests against the pro-Russian government. While that is going on, LGBT activists in Ukraine sound the warning that the nation’s Parliament will consider six draft laws regarding homosexuality, with many of those proposals sounding eerily similar to those already adopted in Russia:

In particular, the last phase of passing the Draft Law No.0945 (former 8711) entitled “On the Introduction of Changes to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine (regarding the protection of the right of children to a safe information environment)” will be soon held. It will include the presentation of profile Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information, headed by Mykola Tomenko, on withdrawal of this draft law from further consideration.

The Draft Law No.1155 entitled “On the Prohibition of Propaganda of Homosexuality Aimed at Children” of authorship by Vadym Kolesnichenko is also ready for discussion. This draft law could easily be adopted in the first reading. In any way this is exactly what was suggested for consideration of the Parliament within the draft resolution introduced by the profile Committee on Legislative Support of Law Enforcement, headed by Andriy Kozhemyakin.

It is also planned to conduct the last phase of passing the Draft Law No.2133 entitled “On amendments to some legislative acts (about non-admittance of adoption of Ukrainian citizens by individuals who are in same-sex marriages)”, introduced by MPs from Svoboda Party Igor Miroshnichenko and Alexander Mirny. Profile Committee on Family Affairs considers it necessary to undergo the draft law for follow-up revision

Gay-Alliance Ukraine says that additional legislation is being proposed to remove sexual orientation from the country’s anti-discrimination laws. Those laws had been passed by the previous government of ex-Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. Another draft resolution would withdraw Ukraine from prior agreements with the European Union dealing with “implementing legalization of same-sex relationships,” despite the fact that the agreements currently do not address same-sex relationships.

BobN

February 17th, 2014

Could it really be the case that Putin’s embrace of anti-gay positions is more about geopolitics than anything? It’s a common argument, and certainly true, that leaders sometimes pick on a minority when it suits them to distract people from other issues. But it’s hard to see a reason for Putin to do it now. Things in Russia aren’t going swimmingly, but they’re hardly in more trouble than most of the world after the 2008 troubles.

A bigger goal than providing cover for corruption and a stagnated economy would explain a lot. How better to pull the former Soviet block states back into the fold than by leveraging age-old prejudices, both those against the West (in a small percentage of the population) and against gay people (in a large percentage of the population)?

How do you say “Karl Rove” in Russian?

Nathaniel

February 17th, 2014

BobN, I believe a top Georgian leader said that very thing.

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