Clashes spotlight rifts over gay rights

KYIV – Petro Poroshenko last week became Ukraine’s first president to publicly voice support for sexual minorities. Speaking at a news conference ahead of a gay-pride march in Kyiv on June 6, he said it should go ahead as planned and upheld “the constitutional right of every citizen of Ukraine” to participate. Anti-gay activists hurled stones and smoke bombs at the march, spat on the participants, ripped posters from their hands, and shouted homophobic slurs. Up to 30 people were detained and several police officers were reportedly injured in the clashes. Zoryan Kis, an activist for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community who took part in the “Equality March,” says the violence highlights deep rifts over gay rights among supporters of the pro-European Maidan protest movement that ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych and brought Mr. Poroshenko to power. Mr. Poroshenko, in his comments on June 5, said: “As far as the ‘March of Equality’ is concerned, I view it from both the perspective of a Christian and a pro-European president. I believe these are two completely compatible ideas.” But Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, a key figure in the Maidan protests, called on organizers to cancel the rally, citing possible provocations and “bad timing.” The march, he argued, risked further dividing Ukraine as it battles separatist rebels in the east. The Right Sector movement vowed to derail the march. “It’s not only aimed at causing the moral decay of the Ukrainian people, it also amounts to spitting on the graves of those who died in the fight for Ukraine,” Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh, who is now a member of Parliament, wrote in a Facebook post ahead of the rally. While Right Sector has not been explicitly tied to the attack, the Ukrainian media has described assailants as far-right activists. (Claire Bigg and Mykhaylo Shtekel, RFE/RL)