EuroPride, which took place this year in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, hosted the first in history Ukrainian LGBT Forum organized by the Ukrainian LGBT Association LIGA. The gathering for politicians and for international community united people who were interested to know about the situation with human rights for LGBT in Ukraine, and the progress the country and the LGBT movement achieved in the last five years based on survey made by LIGA. The event was supported by the presence of a representative of the Embassy of Ukraine to Netherlands.

The organizers started the Forum with a presentation of the current situation in Ukraine. For the last five years Ukrainian LGBT movement achieved great progress in the fight for the respect of the human rights for LGBT people in Ukraine. Community centers have been developed in half of the regions of Ukraine, pride movement grows even in cities with difficult homophobic situation such as Mykolaiv and Kherson, the government is in discussion with representatives of the Ukrainian LGBT organizations about implementing hate crime definition and same-sex partnership in the state legislation. On the other hand, the community faces much violence and discrimination based on homophobia, especially in the Southern region of Ukraine. Ukrainian LGBT movement has a lot to do before LGBT people in Ukraine will be treated equally as other citizens.

The guests of the event gave speeches to congratulate the efforts and progress of the community in Ukraine. Among the guests were the Director of COC Netherlands, the oldest LGBTI organization in Europe, Mr. Koen van Djik, the InterPride Vice-President Mr. Frank van Dalen, the Director of LGBT Emancipation Amsterdam Pride Ms. Irene Hemelaar, and Ukrainian singer and performer Kamaliya, who supported the Ukrainian group on EuroPride.

The European Forum on LGBTI Rights in Ukraine was organized to raise attention to the situation with human rights in Ukraine. Today we see that Europeans do not know very much about Ukraine and the processes inside country. However, changes in human rights issues in Ukraine can only be possible with the political support of the European Union. This year was a breakthrough for the pride movement in Ukraine with pride events guarded by the police in Kyiv and Odesa, and we are looking forward to the peaceful public event “Ride for Human Rights” that LIGA is planning for September in Mykolaiv, one of the centers of Southern Ukraine.