A new documentary, Marriage (In)equality in Ukraine, shot during the Russia-Ukraine war is now available to view online. The film has been created by director and queer activist Yuriy Dvizhon, NGO WA Sphere and Kharkiv Pride under financial support of the European Union, the National Democratic Institute and the queer social network, Hornet.
The Ukraine Parliament is currently considering draft law No. 9103 “On the Institute of Registered Partnerships”, which will allow same-sex couples to have some of the same rights as heterosexual couples have with marriage. The next step is seen to be full marriage equality, which it’s believed will only be possible through broad public support.
For this reason, activists, LGBTQ+ couples, representatives of the military and Ukrainian celebrities have united to support and create the film Marriage (In)equality in Ukraine that aims to show the faces of real people and tell their stories, making the issue visible to a wider international audience.
“When my previous boyfriend died, it was impossible to get into the ICU,” says one of the contributors Anatoliy Yerema – “When you can’t say goodbye to a person and say goodbye via SMS – it is inhumane”. Anatoly is a famous Ukrainian TV presenter who was one of the first national celebrities to have publicly come out. He came to the shooting with his partner Mykola and since it was also Mykola’s birthday, his contribution to the fight for equality was his way of celebrating.
“I am a transgender girl. I’ve got a boyfriend who is in the military”, says another participant, Michelle Karas. “I’ve got woman documents so we could get married, but I want all people who love each other to have the opportunity to get married too, regardless of their sex or gender”
Diana Berg, artist and human rights activist from Mariupol, who worked with LGBTQ+ teenagers, stars in the film together with her husband. Diana identifies herself as a bisexual woman and for a long time she did not enter into official marriage with Oleksandr precisely out of solidarity with same-sex couples. She only signed it to legitimise her relationship when scared in Mariupol.
Valentyna and Tetiana, partners who participated in the film alongside their teenage son Dmytro, pay attention to a particularly painful aspect of discrimination – the lack of the right to guardianship and adoption. During the war, this aspect became even more painful. Tetiana and Valentyna felt this because they had to flee the war twice – in 2014 and in 2022.
“LGBTQ+ families in Ukraine currently do not have any legal status, they are ignored by the state and the society”, says Anna Sharyhina, programme director of the NGO WA Sphere and co-organiser of Kharkiv Pride. “We are talking about concrete issues that the state is supposed to guarantee to all citizens: to make decisions in crisis situations, to bury, to have access to resuscitation, to inherit common property in the event of the death of a partner. It turns out that in the conditions of war and constant threat to human life, some Ukrainian men and women remain legally unprotected”.
The film’s director Yuriy Dvizhon, an LGBTQ+ activist from Ukraine who is currently based in London, said: “After the success of my other project about the Ukrainian queer community and the war – Pride Is Not Available In Your Region – I realised that I couldn’t stop there.
“We need to continue talking about our country, the LGBTQ+ community and the war to the whole world. Together with the screenwriting duo Nastia Alieksieieva and Ljosha Chashchyn, we have undertaken to focus on creating exclusively queer content. We believe that the voices of LGBTQ+ people should be heard and their stories should be told to make this world a better place”.
Marriage (In)equality in Ukraine is currently available to view on YouTube, NovyTV, Megagogo, and Kyivstar TV. Additional platforms will be added soon including for Latin America and OUT TV Europe.
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