Fighting “Gayropa”: Europeanization and Instrumentalization of LGBTI Rights in Ukrainian Public Debate

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the conflict with Russia and growing approximation with the European Union (EU), the LGBTI movement in Ukraine seemed to have achieved some of its political goals, such as introducing changes in legislation and holding peaceful equality marches in Kyiv. At the same time, the last decade has seen a growing number of homophobic attacks by right-wing groups across the country, while sociological surveys have shown an increased level of homophobic attitudes. The article questions the factors that caused the mentioned outcomes and examines the role that the EU, Russia, and national stakeholders played in these transformations.

Perceived Stress Levels among Ukrainian Migrant and LGBT+ Minorities in Poland during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Moreover, even in 2012 Ukraine was planning to introduce a law that would punish the promotion of homosexuality with imprisonment of up to 5 years [ 28 ]. It was only in 2015 that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine amended the Labor Code to grant equal rights to employees without regard to their sexual orientation or gender identity [ 29 ].…”

Development Policy under Fire? The Politicization of European External Relations*

“…The EU's support for the International Criminal Court has become an issue of public contestation in many African countries (Malik, 2016). The EU's LGBTI rights conditionality has been publicly and controversially debated in African countries (Saltnes and Thiel, 2021) and Ukraine (Shevtsova, 2020). Chaban and Elgström (2021) find that in Ukraine, the EU's development policy is faced with surprisingly low levels of politicization, despite an otherwise highly politicized relationship towards Europe.…”

Rysslands konservativa vändning och den globala anti-genusrörelsen

“…Azerbajdzjan, Tadzjikistan och Uzbekistan är några exempel på länder där staten slagit ned på hbtq-aktivister under senare år (Adilgizi, 2018;The Guardian, 2017). I bland annat Georgien och Ukraina har sexualpolitik fått en geopolitisk laddning då ställningstaganden kring hbtq-rättigheter blivit en fråga om landets orientering i relation till »väst», även om även många anti-ryska nationaliströrelser i dessa länder är starkt hbtqfientliga (Nehrieieva & Gvianishvili, 2020;Shevtsova, 2020;Tolkachev & Tolordava, 2019). Bortom det postsovjetiska området är Polen och Ungern tydliga exempel på genomslaget för diskurser om »traditionella värden» och en geopolitisk inramning av sexualpolitik.…”