Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Ukraine face legal and social challenges not experienced by non-LGBT individuals; historically, the prevailing social and political attitudes have been intolerant of LGBT people, and strong evidence suggests this attitude remains in parts of the wider society. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and Ukraine's independence in 1991, the Ukrainian LGBT community has gradually become more visible and more organized politically, organizing several LGBT events in Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Kryvyi Rih.

In a 2010 European study, 28% of Ukrainians polled believed that LGBT individuals should live freely and however they like, the lowest number of all European countries polled apart from Russia.^[2] In 2015, the Ukrainian Parliament approved an employment anti-discrimination law covering sexual orientation and gender identity, and in 2016, Ukrainian officials simplified the transition process for transgender people and began allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood. In 2023 the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association ranked Ukraine 39th out of 49 European countries in terms of LGBT rights legislation, similarly to EU members Lithuania and Romania.^[3] Marriage remains limited to heterosexual couples under the 1996 constitution.

In the 2011 UN General Assembly declaration for LGBT rights, Ukraine was the only East Slavic country to express its support. In late 2022, parliament unanimously approved a media regulation bill that banned hate speech and incitement based on sexual orientation or gender identity. In March 2023, a parliamentary bill was introduced for civil unions.^[4]

In 1991, the Criminal Code was revised so as to better protect the right to privacy and homosexuality became legal. Today, the law relates to same-sex sexual activity when it involves prostitution with people under the legal age of consent or public conduct that is deemed to be in violation of public decency standards. The age of consent is set at 16, regardless of gender and/or sexual orientation.^[5][6]

Article 51 of the Constitution, adopted in 1996, specifically defines marriage as a voluntary union between a man and a woman.^[7][8][9] No legal recognition exists for same-sex marriage, nor is there any sort of more limited recognition for same-sex couples.^[10]

On 23 November 2015, the Government approved an action plan to implement the National Strategy on human rights in the period up to 2020, which include the promise to draft a bill creating registered civil partnerships for opposite-sex and same-sex couples by 2017, among others.^[11][12][13] However, in early 2018, the Ministry of Justice stated that "the development and submission to the Government of a draft law on the legalization of a registered civil partnership in Ukraine cannot be implemented" due to "numerous appeals from the regional councils, the Council of Churches and other religious organizations".^[10]

In June 2018, the Justice Ministry confirmed that currently "there is no legal grounds" for same-sex marriage and civil partnerships in Ukraine.^[14]

In July 2022, a petition in Ukraine asking for the legalisation of same-sex marriage reached over 28,000 signatures, and all petitions in Ukraine that reach over 20,000 signatures automatically start the consideration of the President of Ukraine.^[15] On 2 August 2022, in response to the petition, Zelensky asked the Government of Ukraine to study legalising same-sex marriage, while also stating that there could be no action as long as the Russo-Ukrainian war continues, as the constitution cannot be changed in wartime,^[16] but that there remains a possibility of clarification of same-sex unions by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine or for legalization of same-sex partnerships.^[17] The war has spurred efforts to legalize same-sex marriage to ensure gay soldiers' partners are given the same rights and privileges afforded to those in legally recognised marriages, with activists pointing to the service of LGBT military personnel as having shifted attitudes towards LGBT people.^[18][19]

Single people who are citizens of Ukraine, regardless of sexual orientation, are allowed to adopt, but same-sex couples are explicitly banned from adoption (Clause 211 of Family Code of Ukraine).^[20][21] The law also mentions that people "whose interests conflict with the interests of the child" may not be adopters, but whether this provision has ever been applied against gay adopters is unknown.^{[original research?][citation needed]}

Additional restrictions are placed on foreign adopters. Only couples married in a registered different-sex marriage are allowed to adopt children from Ukraine.^[21][22]

However, lesbian couples are given more access to parenting than men, as IVF and assisted insemination treatments are legal.^[3]

After having failed to gain enough votes on 5 and 9 November 2015, the Ukrainian Parliament approved an amendment to the Labor Code banning sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination at work on 12 November 2015.^[23][24] A similar law (that law would have barred employers from rejecting workers based on their sexual orientation) was indefinitely postponed on 14 May 2013.^[25][26] The law passed on 12 November 2015 was an EU requirement for Ukraine to move forward in its application for visa-free travel to the Schengen Area.^[23] Before the vote of the bill, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Groysman strongly spoke out against same-sex marriage.^{[23][nb 1]}

There is a national hate crimes law that could be interpreted as including sexual orientation and gender identity, but that has not been decided by the courts.^[27]

In November 2016, the Ukrainian Parliament refused to back the Istanbul Convention, a European domestic violence treaty, because its references to sexual orientation and gender violated what many Ukrainian lawmakers said were basic Christian values.^[28] Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which resulted in a surge of reports of violence against women, Ukraine ratified the Istanbul Convention.^[29]

In December 2022, the Ukrainian Parliament unanimously passed a bill that banned hate speech and discrimination against LGBT people in mass media.^[30][31]

Transsexuality is classified as a psychiatric disorder in Ukraine.^[32] Sex reassignment surgery is legal, but it is only permissible for those over the age of 25 years.^{[33][32][34][35][3][36]}

In 2011, the Ukrainian Civil Code was amended to allow transgender people who have undergone gender affirming surgery to change their name to better reflect their gender identity.^[3][37] In 2014, seven people had undergone sex reassignment surgery, and five people received new documentation.^[32]

Since December 2016, new identity documents are issued before surgery is conducted.^[32] This followed an August 2016 ruling which ordered changes requested by two transgender people to their passports and all other documents without requiring them to undergo surgery.^[38] Transsexual individuals who are married or have an underage child can also apply for transition. Previously, all applicants needed permission from a special commission of the Ministry of Healthcare, had to spend 30 days in a psychiatric hospital (usually placed in the same wards with patients considered "mentally ill"), and needed to be "diagnosed with transsexuality";^[39] this is no longer required.^[32]

All able-bodied male citizens from ages 20–27, must serve either 18 months in the navy or one year in all other services. After serving out the term of service Ukraine's conscripts become part of the inactive reserve and are eligible to be recalled for mobilization until they reach age 55 or age 60 for officers.^[40]

According to law, homosexuality is not a reason for exemption from the army. However, many young gay men try to avoid call-up to military service, as they are afraid to face unauthorized relations and other difficulties.^[41] In 2018, Viktor Pylypenko, who had served in the Donbass area for two years during the Russia–Ukraine war, became the first Ukrainian soldier to come out publicly.^[42] In 2019, several gay soldiers in the Ukrainian army participated in a photo exhibition called "We are here".^[43] In 2021, Pylypenko was trying to organize a special unit in the Ukrainian army for LGBT soldiers.^[42] In July 2021, Pylypenko stated there were 16 open LGBT soldiers in the Ukrainian army.^[44]

The 2022 Russian invasion resulted in an increased influx of openness and acceptance regarding LGBTQ soldiers in the Ukrainian military. A growing number of soldiers disclosed their identity, believing that they could fight not just for their home country but also against existing stereotypes.^[45] The invasion also saw the spread of "unicorn insignia" which Ukrainian LGBTQ soldiers sew onto their uniforms. The unicorn was chosen due to its nature as "fantastic 'non-existent' creature", sarcastically countering claims about there being no LGBT+ individuals in the Ukrainian military.^[46][47]

In April 2016, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health enacted new regulations governing blood donation, allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood.^[48] Previously, the Ministry of Health listed homosexuality as a "risky behaviour" for which donors could not give blood.^[49]

"I knew one 19-year-old guy who accidentally left his laptop lying around his house and his parents saw messages he sent to his boyfriend. For over a year they didn't let him go out of the house to work or study, they just kept him inside for fear of shame. And that's a familiar story in Ukraine."

— Stas Mischenko, vice-president of Gay Alliance of Ukraine^[50]

Sexual orientations and gender identity remain taboo subjects in Ukraine. Most Ukrainians affiliated with the Orthodox or Catholic Church tend to view homosexuality and non-traditional gender roles as signs of immorality.^[51][52] Prior to the 25 May 2013 Kyiv pride parade, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate, Patriarch Filaret, stated that people supporting LGBT rights would be cursed, and Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church denounced homosexuality as a sin tantamount to manslaughter.^[53]

Beyond the traditional religious teachings, most Ukrainians grew up with little, if any, comprehensive, fact-based public education about human sexuality in general, let alone sexual orientation and gender identity. The lack of sex education promotes the view of homosexuals as a dangerous social group and as a source of sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV/AIDS.^{[citation needed]}

During the Soviet era, non-heterosexual sexual relations were labelled as abnormal. Some remnants of the Soviet mentality, which sees sexual topics as taboo and even denies their existence, still exist today.^[54]

In 2011, there were frequent reports of harassment, even violence directed at LGBT people in Ukraine.^[55] Many LGBT people in Ukraine reported feeling the need to lie about their true sexual orientation or gender identity in order to avoid being a target for discrimination or violent harassment.^[51] Hate crimes against the LGBT community are frequently reported on in the international press and, while such violence is not legal in Ukraine, there is a perception by Ukrainians and globally that such violence is frequently tolerated by the Government.^{[51][56][57][58]} The Ukrainian police hardly ever detain attackers.^[59][51][56] The prevailing intolerance and threats of violence pressure many LGBT people to remain in the closet, especially if they are public figures who feel that their career as a politician or celebrity would end if people knew that they are part of the LGBT community.^{[60][nb 2]}

While prevailing public attitudes are intolerant, the Ukrainian LGBT community has gradually become more visible and more organized politically since 1991. The issue of LGBT rights in Ukraine has been publicly debated much more, largely as the result of the actions of right-wing nationalists and social conservatives to classify any positive depictions of LGBT people or LGBT rights as being pornographic.^[61]

One of the major movements in opposition to LGBT rights in Ukraine is the "ex-gay" movement which believes that lesbian, gay, or bisexual sexual orientations, as well as transgender identities, can be "cured" through therapeutic or religious programs. The largest of these groups in Ukraine is Love Against Homosexuality, who believe that LGBT people are "sexual perverts" who need to be cured.^[61]

In 1999, the former President of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, stated that there are more important issues than LGBT rights to discuss in Parliament and that homosexuality is caused by a mental illness or the corrupting influence of foreign films.^[41]

In 2007, the leader of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights called gay men "perverts" who must be stopped. Other MPs, namely Communist MP Leonid Grach, have listed homosexuality and lesbianism as evils the state must stop.^[62]

A draft law that would make it illegal to talk about homosexuality in public and in the media and to import, distribute, and broadcast video, photo, and audio products that "encourages homosexuality" (with penalties of up to five years in prison and fines for up to ₴5,000 (US$616))^[63] was passed in first reading in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) on 2 October 2012.^[56] An estimated 20 community activists representing several organizations protested outside of the Verkhovna Rada building during the vote.^[64] On 4 October 2012, a second vote was tentatively scheduled for 16 October.^{[64][51][65][66][56][67]} This law was deemed homophobic by the LGBT community and human rights organisations and condemned by Amnesty International, the European Union, and the United Nations.^[56] The Venice Commission concluded in June 2013 that the bill was "incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights and international human rights standards".^[68] In January 2015, the bill was removed from the agenda.^[69][70]

A petition was subsequently started by anti-gay groups, calling for "measures to be taken to stop the propaganda of homosexuality and for defending family values". In March 2018, Ukraine's Anti-Discrimination Ombudsperson removed the petition from the electronic petitions section. By then, the petition had received 23,000 signatures and support from various religious organisations. The Ombudsman described the petition as "anti-freedom", and deleted it due to "containing calls to restrict human rights".^[71]

In 1998, the first LGBT rights group was created. Our World (Ukrainian: Наш світ) is an LGBT community center and human rights advocacy organization. In 2008, Ukrainian LGBT rights organizations came together to create a coalition, the Union of Gay Organizations of Ukraine (Рада ЛГБТ-організацій України).^[72] The Gay Alliance of Ukraine (Гей-альянс Україна) was founded in 2009.^{[citation needed]}

Persecution in Russian-occupied territory

Main article: LGBT people in the Russo-Ukrainian War

This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: Russia invaded all of Ukraine in February 2022, so this section needs information on what they have done to LGBT people in the vastly increased occupied territories since then.. (June 2023)

LGBT people have faced active persecution in the parts of the country under Russian occupation since 2014.^[119]

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals have complained about an increase of attacks in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in Eastern Ukraine.^[120][82] On 8 June 2014, ten armed people attacked the gay club Babylon in the city of Donetsk. They fired blank cartridges into the air for intimidation and declared that there should not be gay clubs in the city, after which they robbed the visitors.^[121] In 2015, the Deputy Minister for Political Affairs of the Donetsk People's Republic stated: "A culture of homosexuality is spreading… This is why we must kill anyone who is involved in this."^[122] Many volunteers who took in refugees from territories controlled by the Donetsk People's Republic refused to host LGBT people.^[82]

In July 2015, the head of the Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, said he respected Ukraine's far-right party Right Sector "when they beat up the gays in Kyiv and when they tried to depose Poroshenko".^[123]

In a 2007 country-wide survey by the Institute of Sociology, 16.7% disagreed strongly and 17.6% disagreed with the following statement: Gay men and lesbians should be free to live their own life as they wish. Only 30.2% agreed strongly and agreed with the statement. That was the lowest rating of agreed strongly and agreed with the statement of 24 countries investigated.^[124]

In a December 2007 survey by Angus Reid Global Monitor, 81.3% of Ukrainians polled said that homosexual relations were "never acceptable", 13% answered "sometimes acceptable" and 5.7% "acceptable".^[125] Of all the behaviors listed, homosexuality was viewed as the third worst after shoplifting and drunk driving. Notably, more people viewed this as never acceptable than adultery (61.5% never, 29.3% sometimes), traffic rule violation (70.2% never, 25.6% sometimes), pollution (73.3% never, 22.4% sometimes), tax evasion (48.5% never, 37.5% sometimes), deception for the sake of profit (48.3% never, 41.6% sometimes), as well as a list of other things including abortion, premarital sex, complaining to authorities about a friend who has stolen something, etc.^[125]

In another Angus Reid Global Monitor survey, this one in June 2007, on a long list of possible social reforms in the country, legalization of same-sex marriage only received 4.7% of the vote, the lowest by far (the next lowest being light drugs,^[126] at 7.1%).^[126]

A December 2010 Gorshenin Institute poll stated that the "Ukrainian attitude to sexual minorities" was "entirely negative" for 57.5%, "rather negative" for 14.5%, "rather positive" for 10% and "quite positive" for 3%.^[76]

A May 2013 poll by GfK Ukraine found that 4.6% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage and 16% supported other forms of recognition, while 79.4% were opposed to any form of recognition.^[127]

A summer 2015 survey by the British Council revealed that one in five of Ukrainian youth^{[nb 4]} would be uncomfortable with having lesbian and gay people as friends.^[128]

According to a 2015–16 survey by the Pew Research Center, 86% of Ukrainian respondents believed that homosexuality should not be accepted by society.^[129]

In May 2016 in a survey by Nash Svit Center, conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, only 3,3% of respondents claimed to be positive about LGBT people in general, while 60,4% were negative and 30,7% were indifferent. When asked about equal rights, 33,4% agreed that LGBT members should have the same rights as others, while 45,2% disagreed and 21,3% could not or did not want to answer.^[130]

On 25 September 2016, European scientific studies detected that Ukrainians displayed higher levels of homophobia than Albanians and Italians, confirming the central role of cultural differences in homophobic attitudes.^[131]

A Pew Research Center poll published in May 2017 suggested that 9% of Ukrainians were in favor of same-sex marriage, while 85% opposed it. According to the poll, younger people were more likely than their elders to favor legal same-sex marriage (11% vs. 7%).^[132]

According to a 2017 poll carried out by ILGA, 56% of Ukrainians agreed that gay, lesbian and bisexual people should enjoy the same rights as straight people, while 21% disagreed. Additionally, 59% agreed that they should be protected from workplace discrimination. 20% of Ukrainians, however, said that people who are in same-sex relationships should be charged as criminals, while 55% disagreed. As for transgender people, 60% agreed that they should have the same rights, 58% believed they should be protected from employment discrimination and a plurality of 43% believed they should be allowed to change their legal gender.^[133]

In May 2022 in a survey by Nash Svit Center, also conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, 12.8% of respondents claimed to be positive about LGBT people in general, while 38.2% were negative and 44.8% indifferent. When asked about equal rights, 63.7% agreed that LGBT members should have equal rights, while 25.9% disagreed and 10.4% could not or did not want to answer. Nash Svit Center believes that acceptance of LGBT people in Ukraine has "Dramatically improved" compared to results from their similar survey from 2016. It might have been a result of Russian invasion, carried out under the slogans of defending traditional values and fighting gay parades.^[130]

According to one study, the male prisons with their norms that had emerged as instruments of self-governance in many post-Soviet countries is one of the reasons for anti-gay attitudes due to the high number of people who went through the penitentiary system in the Soviet Union.^[134]

According to a poll conducted in January 2023 by the National Democratic Institute with the help of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, 56% of Ukrainians agreed that same-sex couples should have the right to register their relationship in the form of a civil partnership, while 24% disagreed. 44% supported same-sex marriage, 36% were against it. 30% supported the adoption of children by same-sex couples, 48% were against.^[135]

• LGBT rights in Europe
• Human rights in Ukraine
• Sexual orientation and military service