Homosexual soldiers in Ukraine are demonstrating to demand their rights

Hundreds of homosexual Ukrainian soldiers and their supporters demonstrated in central Kiev on Sunday to demand more rights and to highlight their efforts in the war against Russia.

The soldiers, many carrying rainbow flags, called on the government to grant them formal partnership rights, in what they described as a pride march.

Members of the LGBT community in the military have been able to change public attitudes toward same-sex partnerships in the socially conservative state.

Dmitry Pavlov, an army soldier who uses a walking cane, said, “We’re ordinary people who fight on an equal footing with everyone, but we are deprived of the rights that others have”.

Activists are pushing for legal reforms to allow LGBT people to make medical decisions about wounded soldiers and bury victims of the war that has stretched across Ukraine for more than two years.

The soldiers believe that improving gay rights would create more discrimination between Ukraine and Russia, where gay rights are severely restricted.

Staff from the US Embassy and several European embassies attended the pride parade.

Organizers faced difficulties in organizing the march, most notably the conviction of one of the main branches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“This measure is part of a radical leftist political movement and is aimed at imposing a political ideology, and also aims to destroy the institution of the family, weaken Ukrainian society in conditions of war and repel Russian aggression,” the church said.

Police set up a cordon in central Kiev to keep demonstrators away from an anti-gay counter-demonstration.

Both participants in the demonstrations took the opportunity to ask foreign countries to help Ukraine in its war against Russia, chanting “Help Ukraine now!”