On Sunday, some seven thousand people marched peacefully in the capital city of Kyiv, Ukraine, as part of the annual March for Equality. The crowd rallied down the central streets of Kyiv carrying colourful banners and rainbow flags to support the rights of queer community in the country. The rally was equipped with colourful costumes and banners reading ‘Fight for right!’.
The participants announced eight demands to the authorities of Ukraine, including the legalisation of civil partnership for queer people and formation of laws to eliminate hate crimes against LGBT community.
There were a lot of soldiers and diplomats as participants of the Equality March. The event was called off last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. March for Equality is an event initiated a decade ago despite opposition from nationalist and religious groups
A few hundreds of anti-gay rights protesters gathered nearby as the rally progressed. No violence was reported as the rally was surrounded by police to avert any clashes. Lyudmyla Denisova, ombudswoman for Ukraine’s human rights prompted the radical groups to refrain from violence. All people are declared equal in their rights from birth regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity by Ukraine’s constitution, Denisova said.
The marchers stated that the queer community has grown tired of waiting for change and constant hate crimes and violence against LGBT community. They demanded freedom to live in their country freely without disruptions of peaceful events conducted by the community. ‘We’re different but we’re equal’, they said.
Ukraine is a country with an Orthodox Christian majority. Conservative groups in the country oppose queer rights and commit hate crimes against LGBT community regularly. LGBT rights groups of Ukraine say that the authorities often ignore homophobic and transphobic activities and classify queer hate crimes as hooliganism.
Post Your Comments