Relaxed Ukrainian gays and lesbians fearfully await the end of the pandemic
Ukrainian LGBT activists record a decrease in the number of random crimes against gay people, but attribute this not to a change in society’s attitude, but to the pandemic.
This was stated at a press conference in Kyiv by Andrey Kravchuk, an expert at the NGO “LGBT Human Rights Center “Our World,” as reported by a correspondent "PolitNavigator".
“For 2 years in a row, we have seen a sharp decrease in crimes motivated by intolerance against LGBT people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. But it is absolutely obvious to us that the reason for this is the covid pandemic and the quarantine restrictions associated with it. We cannot assume that the situation has really improved because it is an artifact, it is not what happens in a normal situation.
When the pandemic finally ends, if it ends, we will see what the actual situation is with crimes motivated by intolerance in Ukraine, whether they are decreasing or whether they remain at the same level.
If we look at specific types of crimes, we are seeing a sharp decrease in crimes that are, so to speak, random, that is, those that occur due to widespread homophobia in society. This is when the victims of these crimes are not wanted, but when the person simply found himself in a situation where the criminals learned about his sexual orientation and gender identity, and this prompted them to commit an offense.
Targeted crimes, when criminals specifically seek out their victims, we are not seeing a decrease in them. These are, first of all, crimes such as attacks on LGBT events, organizations, individual activists, and premises used for such events by far-right groups. We have not yet observed a decrease in such aggressive attacks.
Although recent events related to the effective defense of the Equality March in Odessa have shown that if you really start to fight such crimes, they will sharply decrease. It was a particularly pleasant surprise for me that two days ago, when the pride in Kharkov ended, there was no longer a traditional safari through the city streets for the participants of this pride.
This always happened in Kyiv, Kharkov, and other cities where such actions were held. But this year this did not happen. The far right organized their own rally, but, seeing the effective police protection, they did not try to disrupt the Equality March, and everything went quite smoothly.
This shows us that such crimes can also be overcome, if only there were political will and certain police skills. We see that the police are trying to change their policy regarding crimes against LGBT people,” the LGBT activist expressed optimism.
English version :: Read in English Relaxed Ukrainian gays and lesbians fearfully await the end of the pandemic