Social Work with People Practicing Same-Sex ... - ILGA Europe

etween gay groups and local AIDS Centres in Odessa,
Zaporizhia and Donetsk. In other words, the state structures
have tried and are still trying to rid themselves of the
necessity of working with this population group. According
to a recent statement by the mayor of Krasnoarmeisk (Donetsk
oblast) Mr. A. Lyashenko, “in the city of Krasnoarmeisk no
social group of men having sex with men has been official
identified“ (letter of Krasnoarmeisk City Council of 19
September, 2008, #01-22-2673).
Majority of gay and lesbian associations in the Ukraine,
founded in early and later 1990s, were dating clubs and
did not pursue any political goals. Many of them had with
considerable effort had survived for more than two years 1 .
Now, as of April 2009 there are 19 officially operating organizations in Ukraine
established by the LGBT community (3 lesbian, 10 gay and 6 LGBT organizations).
This is these organizations that are engaged in dynamic activities on the behalf of the
LGBT community, including: advocacy, working with media, holding press conferences,
organizing special events, providing psychological support and legal consultations,
educational efforts, research, HIV?AIDS prevention activities among MSM and WSW.
Lesbian and gay online information resources are developing steadily, in some
regional centres mutual support groups and personal development groups are being
held, and sporting and creative activities actively develop. Now in Ukraine, marking
the International Day Against Homophobia (May 17) and Homosexual Memorial Day
(December 12) have become a tradition, lesbian and gay community actively advocates
for its rights among the executive and legislative authorities.
Since 2005, LGBT organizations in Ukraine mark the International Day Against
Homophobia. In this context, they have initiated a broad discussion on ways to ensure
the full scope of civic rights and freedoms to LGBT citizens. In an open letter to the
President and ministries (2006) 6 main demands were laid out 2 . In 2008, the lesbian
and gay community developed “Plan of measures to counter discrimination on the basis
of sexual orientation and gender identity in Ukraine“, which was sent to the President,
the Parliament and concerned ministries and departments, that comprised 109 points
and covered all areas of social relations and civic rights.
It is worth mentioning here that on the workshop 3 for the representatives of LGBT
organizations and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine LGBT, MSM, WSW and transgender
people needs in respect to health services were presented, and recommendations drafted
and sent to the Ministry of Health and other appropriate agencies.
Talking about the role of civic organizations in combating homophobia, stigma
and discrimination, one cannot help noting that the leaders and activists of LGNT
organizations in Ukraine have asserted themselves firmly as experts and newsmakers
for the mass media in our country. The Ukrainian media space shows a persistent
interest to the LGBT issues. For instance, in the year 2008 alone, LGBT issues were
regularly highlighted by such leading TV channels as STB, Inter, TRK Ukraina; print
media: magazine Korrespondent, Time Out, 15 Minut, as well as Internet publications
and news agencies: unian.net, obozrevatel.com, mignews.com.ua, from-ua.com, glavred.
info, correspondent.net.
Nevertheless, despite the fact that 18 years have elapsed since 1991, the LGBT movement
in Ukraine remains to be quite week for a number of reasons. Among them: the lack of
meaningful cooperation between the organizations of lesbians and gays; community's
passivity and unwillingness to fight for their rights; insufficient funding which does not
allow to launch even small projects, which are not related to HIV/AIDS prevention and
address the issues of response to homophobia, stigma and discrimination or building
capacity of the existing organizations and groups. Also, other essential factors include
the lack of information on the KGBT community; high level of homophobia in media and
government; difficulties with registering LGBT organizations and interactions with the
authorities. Since 2003, attempts were made in Ukraine to create a national association
of LGBT organizations 4 , with an aim to mobilize the community for a robust advocacy
of the rights, interests and needs of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people
Section on LGBT-studies, National
Conference on Monitoring and
Evaluation, Yalta, 2008
1 Нагорная Н. Положение гомосексуальных
и бисексуальных людей
в Украине. Новости ВИЧ/СПИД №
2-3, 2003. Международный Альянс
по ВИЧ/СПИД — К. — 32с., —
стр. 2-4.
2 Ban on discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation, civic
partnership for LG, guarantee of
the full scope of rights for civic
partnerships, recognize as legal
same-sex marriages with foreign
nationals, introduction of statesponsored
programs for the support
of LG, and taking into account
special needs of LG when drafting
legislative and normative acts.
3 Workshop on the issues of resolving
the problem of stigmatization and
discrimination of MSM and WSW
in the sphere of health and social
services was held in July, 2008 with
the support of Coalition of HIVservicing
Organizations of Ukraine
and was funded by the International
HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine.
4 Since 2003, Women's Network
Information Center was promoting
the idea of establishing a national
association of LGBT organizations.
In 2005, a protocol was signed on
the establishment of Coalition of
LGBT Organizations, but because
of internal disputes the Coalition
appeared to be unsustainable.
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