UKRAINE: Gay Couple Attacked While Replicating "Walking While Gay" Video

Via Bird In Flight:

Last week the creators of ChebuRussia TV published a video that documented how people in Moscow reacted to two young men walking around the city holding hands. The video has more than eight million views by now. This experiment was widely discussed in Ukraine as well, and some speculated on whether the reaction to a similar couple in, say, Kyiv would be different. Bird In Flight decided to see for themselves and filmed Zoryan and Tymur walking in crowded public spaces. We can see that most of the people have a neutral opinion, they show no particular interest. This proves that the confrontation is between the two minorities. The only problem is that one of the minorities is excessively aggressive. I think that law enforcement should start the so called ‘safari’ on aggressors, because the latter are discriminating against Ukrainians, popularizing violence and are making it clear with their actions and statements that law enforcement is insignificant to them and the aggression will remain unpunished.

 More from the Guardian:

The Ukrainian far-right has grown in influence after playing a key role in the Euromaidan demonstrations that brought the current pro-Western government to power, and in the conflict with Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine. Earlier this month, a shootout involving the ultra-nationalist militia Right Sector left two dead in western Ukraine and led to a standoff with the authorities. Right Sector’s leader, Dmytro Yarosh, called for a referendum to impeach Poroshenko as supporters rallied in the capital on Tuesday. Maxim Eristavi, a Kiev-based journalist and a member of the LGBT community, said the Mukacheve attack and the assault on Kis and Levchuk were the results of the government’s passive stance towards rightwing extremism. He said top officials failed to condemn an attack by dozens of assailants on a gay pride parade in the capital last month. Eristavi said: “There’s a culture of impunity among Ukrainian far-right extremists that is flourishing on the local governing and political elite’s inability to issue a condemnation of violent paramilitaries.”

The clip below has nearly 800K views already.

(Tipped by JMG reader Den)

UKRAINE: Hundreds Of Riot Police Protect Kiev Pride During Attack By Neo-Nazis, Dozens Arrested, Several Cops Injured

Via NBC News:

Several dozen unknown assailants attacked a gay pride rally in Kiev on Saturday, throwing flares and wounding two policemen, a Reuters witness reported. Organizers for 'KyivPride2015' said the march along the Dnipro river would go ahead despite warnings from city mayor Vitaly Klitschko, who advised the event be canceled because of a threat of violence from far-right groups. Despite the presence of several hundred police in riot gear, the march of around 150 LGBT supporters carrying rainbow banners and placards came under attack and 25-30 "hooligans" were arrested, parliament member Serhiy Leshchenko said on Twitter. Leshchenko said police had prevented any direct clashes between participants in the march and the attackers.

Yesterday Ukraine's president expressed support for the parade:

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko voiced support for LGBT rights, saying he believes an equality march planned for Saturday in Kiev should take place as planned. "I will not participate in it, but I don't see any reason to impede this march because it's a constitutional right of every citizen of Ukraine," he said at a press conference on Friday. No president of Ukraine — a post-Soviet state of more than 40 million mostly-conservative Orthodox Christians — has ever voiced support of the country's LGBT community, activists told Mashable. Poroshenko has been mostly silent on the topic of LGBT rights until now. Taras Karasiichuk, an organizer of the planned equality march, said he was shocked by the president's remarks. "I'm really surprised," he said. "It's huge. And it's important." Poroshenko's remarks came in response to a question by a journalist who asked whether the president could guarantee the security of those participating in Saturday's march after threats from far-right nationalist groups this week.

It appears that the attacks were coordinated by members of Ukraine's neo-Nazi Right Sector Party.  The BBC reports that five riot police were injured, one seriously.



UPDATE: More from Buzzfeed.

Nine police officers were injured during a LGBT “March for Equality” in Kiev on Saturday, after right-wing counter protesters attacked the event, according to a press release from the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Police deployed more than 2,000 officers to protect the event, which was canceled last year because the police said they would not protect participants. One of the injured officers took a “shrapnel wound” to the neck, according to officials. This video [BELOW] shows police detaining and unmasking attackers. The Ministry of Internal Affairs said 25 people were arrested for “illegal actions” during the march.

Start at 3:15 in this clip.

Comrade Brian Brown: I'm Proud To Collaborate With Russia's Thuggish Gov't

As we know, hate group leaders Brian Brown and Scott Lively are conspirators in Russia's pogrom against its own LGBT citizens. But the virulently anti-gay World Congress Of Families didn't only meet in Moscow last week. Via press release today:

On October 13, the delegation met in Kiev with representatives of parents groups from all over the country. The meeting was organized by Alexandar Skvortsov, co-chairman of the umbrella group, All Ukrainian Parents Committee. The Ukrainian leaders expressed concern about the pressure brought to bear on their nation to accede to the homosexual agenda (including "gay marriage") as a condition for membership in the European Union. They also noted the moral decline in society reflected in pornography (of which the Ukraine is one of the leaders internationally) and prostitution. They complained about sexual indoctrination in the schools -- in the guise of teaching sex education -- and showed the WCF leaders a booklet used for this purpose that's graphic in both content and illustrations. The same WCF leaders were in Belgrade on September 28, for a rally and family march, including as many as 10,000 participants, according to an AP report.

NOT by coincidence, on the very day that WCF was in Belgrade, city leaders abruptly banned that day's planned gay pride parade, "citing security concerns over threats of violence by the neo-Nazi groups who battled hundreds of riot police at Belgrade Pride 2010." (Image via Towleroad)

Ukraine Holds First Gay Pride Event

Ukraine saw its first-ever gay pride event today in Kiev, where activists were prepared for the sort of violence seen last week in Georgia.  As you'll see in the short clip below, there were a few frightening scuffles, but the small event concluded without injuries. Pink News reports:

Despite a ban by a local court, more than a hundred LGBT rights activists held the first gay pride demonstration in the capital of Kiev. The event was relatively peaceful despite the attempts by a very small number of individuals to disrupt the occasion. “This can be considered a historic day,” Elena Semyonova one of the organisers told reporters after the activists held a 20-minute-long march along a street near the centre of the Ukrainian capital. Witnesses noticed the sober dress of activists who were advised to wear comfortable clothes and shoes that would make their escape easier in the event of an attack by anti-gay protestors or the police.

We applaud our brave counterparts in Ukraine.

UKRAINE: Anti-Gay Protesters Spray Tear Gas At Kiev LGBT Rights Rally