BUDAPEST – Hungary’s President Katalin Novak vetoed a legislation that included a provision for citizens to anonymously report on same-sex couples who are raising children. In a rare departure from the policies of Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban whom she generally supports, Novak returned the bill to the parliament telling lawmakers to strike that provision.

While lawmakers can still override her veto, the president’s veto letter to lawmakers of the National Assembly of Hungary contained unusually sharp critique from a member of Orban’s inner circle.

The wording of the provision specifies that Hungarians may report those who contest the “constitutionally recognised role of marriage and the family” and those who contest children’s rights “to an identity appropriate to their sex at birth.” The latter wording specifically aimed at acknowledging trans youth.

The country’s constitution states that the institution of marriage is ““between one man and one woman,” and notes that “the mother is a woman, the father a man.”

This law’s passage last week comes after the country’s Constitutional Court issued a ruling in February that will continue to block new applications from transgender people for legal gender recognition. The judgment effectively creates two categories of trans people in Hungary: those who applied early enough to pursue gender recognition and those who did not.

Earlier this month according to a spokesperson for the German government, Germany and France joined with other EU member states in the European Commission lawsuit over a Hungarian law which discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

The 14 EU member states now joined the lawsuit’s proceedings: Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Malta, Austria, Sweden, Slovenia, Finland and now France and Germany.

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has publicly proclaimed he is a “defender of traditional family Catholic values.” Orban has been criticised by international human rights groups as discriminating against LGBTQ+ people with this law which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called a “disgrace.”

On 15 June 2021, the Hungarian Law purportedly aiming at taking stricter action against paedophile offenders and amending certain laws to protect children was adopted. Some of the new provisions target and limit the access of minors to content and advertisements that “promotes or portrays” the so-called “divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality”.

Prior to its passage over 5,000 people, LGBTQ activists and supporters along with human rights activists demonstrated in front of the Parliament in Budapest, angered by legislation banning any content portraying or promoting homosexuality or sex reassignment to anyone under 18. 

It was sponsored by Fidesz, Orban’s ruling conservative party and essentially equates sexual and gender diversity people to paedophilia.

Hungary’s president Katalin Novak has vetoed a law widely seen as being discriminatory toward LGBTQ+ people.

She's urging parliament to strike a paragraph that would make it legal to anonymously report certain same-sex couples to the government.https://t.co/4hPr2dGKY9

— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) April 22, 2023

BUDAPEST – Earlier this past week lawmakers of the National Assembly of Hungary approved legislation that included a provision for citizens to anonymously report on same-sex couples who are raising children.

The wording of the provision specifies that Hungarians may report those who contest the “constitutionally recognised role of marriage and the family” and those who contest children’s rights “to an identity appropriate to their sex at birth.” The latter wording specifically aimed at acknowledging trans youth.

The country’s constitution states that the institution of marriage is ““between one man and one woman,” and notes that “the mother is a woman, the father a man.”

This law’s passage comes after the country’s Constitutional Court issued a ruling in February that will continue to block new applications from transgender people for legal gender recognition. The judgment effectively creates two categories of trans people in Hungary: those who applied early enough to pursue gender recognition and those who did not.

Earlier this month according to a spokesperson for the German government, Germany and France joined with other EU member states in the European Commission lawsuit over a Hungarian law which discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

The 14 EU member states now joined the lawsuit’s proceedings: Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Malta, Austria, Sweden, Slovenia, Finland and now France and Germany.

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has publicly proclaimed he is a “defender of traditional family Catholic values.” Orban has been criticised by international human rights groups as discriminating against LGBTQ+ people with this law which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called a “disgrace.”

On 15 June 2021, the Hungarian Law purportedly aiming at taking stricter action against paedophile offenders and amending certain laws to protect children was adopted. Some of the new provisions target and limit the access of minors to content and advertisements that “promotes or portrays” the so-called “divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality”.

Prior to its passage over 5,000 people, LGBTQ activists and supporters along with human rights activists demonstrated in front of the Parliament in Budapest, angered by legislation banning any content portraying or promoting homosexuality or sex reassignment to anyone under 18. 

It was sponsored by Fidesz, Orban’s ruling conservative party and essentially equates sexual and gender diversity people to paedophilia.

BUDAPEST – In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga stated that the government of Prime Minister Viktor Mihály Orbán would continue to battle the European Commission over Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ education law that the EU governing body maintains discriminates against people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Varga wrote in her post [Translated]:

“Today I filed a complaint with the Court of the European Union regarding the breach of obligations initiated under the Hungarian Child Protection Act. We continue to stick to our conviction and those enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, that education is a national jurisdiction and it is the right of the parents to decide on the upbringing of children.

As before, we will continue to go against the wall when it comes to the protection of our children. Cases revealed in recent weeks prove that there is a great need for the Child Protection Act and even further measures.

Hungary will not surrender!

Today I filed a counterclaim to the Court of Justice of the European Union over the infringement procedure on Hungary’s Child Protection Act. We continue to stand by our conviction and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union that education is a national competence and that parents have the right to decide on the upbringing of their children.

Like before, we will go clear on to the end when it comes to protecting our children. The cases that have come to light in recent weeks clearly shows the need for a child protection law as well as further measures. “

The law that banned the promotion of homosexuality and sex-reassignment surgery to minors in Hungary was signed into law by Prime Minister Orbán and took effect on July 8, 2021. At the time, the Háttér Society, a Hungarian LGBTQ rights group said in a statement:

“The homophobic and transphobic amendments to the law, which came into force on July 8, 2021, stigmatize LGBTQI people, deprive LGBTQI youth of information that is vital to them, and illegally restrict freedom of speech and the right to education.” 

Reuters reported the standoff comes at a time when the EU has suspended the disbursement of billions of euros of much-needed EU funds to Hungary until Budapest implements reforms to improve judicial independence and tackle corruption.

Orban, who has publicly proclaimed that he is a “defender of traditional family Catholic values,” has been criticised by international human rights groups as discriminating against LGBTQ+ people with this law which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called a “disgrace.”

The European Commission referred Hungary to the Court of Justice of the EU over the anti-LGBT law in mid-2022. The commission has said it considers that the law violates the EU’s internal market rules, the fundamental rights of individuals and EU values.

KYIV, Ukraine — A Ukrainian MP has introduced a bill that would extend legal recognition to same-sex couples.

Inna Sovsun in a series of tweets notes 56 percent of Ukrainians “support same-sex partnerships” and she hopes “the majority of the Parliament, including [President Volodymyr Zelenskyy)’s party will take the lead from the people.”

“Ukrainians can no longer wait for equality,” said Sovsun. “We must do it immediately. LGBT Ukrainians deserve to have a family. Every day can be their last. Just like for any other Ukrainian. There is no time for hesitation. Let’s legalize same-sex partnerships in Ukraine already this year.”

Russia on Feb. 24, 2022, launched its war against Ukraine.

“Every day, Ukrainian LGBT military personnel put themselves in danger protecting us,” said Sovsun. “Yet if they are in relationships, the state does not recognize those. This means that their partners do not have the same benefits as partner (sic) in heterosexual relationships.”

“This includes some very unsettling sitaution (sic),” she added. “If (an) LGBT military person is wounded, his/her partner would not be able to make decisions about his/her medical treatment.”

Zelenskyy last summer said he supports a civil partnerships law for same-sex couples. 

Ukrainian lawmakers late last year unanimously approved a media regulation bill that bans hate speech and incitement based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova during a Jan. 26 event in D.C. that highlighted LGBTQ+ and intersex servicemembers in her country applauded Kyiv Pride and other advocacy groups. Markarova acknowledged “not everything is perfect,” but added Ukraine is “moving in the right direction.”

“We together will not only fight the external enemy, but also will see equality,” she said.

Ruslana Hnatchenko, funding manager of the Sphere Women’s Association, a Kharkiv-based group that promotes LGBTQ+ and intersex rights in Ukraine, last month told the Washington Blade during a Zoom interview from the Hungarian capital of Budapest that conservative politicians, prominent figures within the Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox Churches and many Ukrainians themselves remain opposed to LGBTQ+ and intersex rights. Hnatchenko said she believes Zelenskyy “believes in human rights,” but the landscape to advance LGBTQ+ and intersex rights in her country remains complex.

“He (Zelenskyy) is kind of between a rock and a hard place in that sense, but I believe that human rights in Ukraine will overcome, especially after our victory,” said Hnatchenko. “We will make progress.”

🏳️‍🌈🇺🇦Today, I submitted a draft law on the legalization of same-sex partnerships to Ukrainian parliament.

Today 56% of Ukrainians support same-sex partnerships! So, I hope the majority of the parliament, including @ZelenskyyUa party will take the lead from the people! pic.twitter.com/uQnCUAPVjt

— Inna Sovsun (@InnaSovsun) March 7, 2023

EASTERN UKRAINE — Shrapnel from a Russian artillery shell on Thursday wounded a Transgender woman from Las Vegas who is serving in the Ukrainian military.

Sarah Ashton-Cirillo told the Washington Blade that part of the artillery shell hit her in the head and right hand while her unit, the 209th Battalion of the 113th Brigade in the Donbas, was on the frontlines in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.

“I was hit this morning,” she wrote in a tweet. “My injuries are permanent. I’ve lost part of my hand and have scarring on my face.”

A video that Ashton-Cirillo posted to Twitter shows a fellow soldier bandaging her hand.

Explosions can be heard in the distance as Ashton-Cirillo speaks.

“They can’t kill us. They can’t hurt us. Victory is ours. It doesn’t fucking matter. Why? Because we’re Ukraine,” she said. “Ultimately Putin is going to be the one dead … and this is the small price for liberation and freedom. Slava Ukraini! (Glory to Ukraine!)”

I was hit this morning.

My injuries are permanent.

I’ve lost part of my hand and have scarring on my face.

We won the battle, though.

And here was my message in the immediate aftermath. pic.twitter.com/2mXFTQ3Cak

— Sarah Ashton-Cirillo (@SarahAshtonLV) February 23, 2023

Friday marks a year since Russia launched its war against Ukraine.

Ashton-Cirillo enlisted in the Ukrainian military after she covered it.

“I want to serve this fight for freedom, this fight for liberty, this fight for all of us,” she told the Blade last December while she was in D.C. to speak with lawmakers on behalf of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry about continued support for Ukraine.

Ashton-Cirillo on Wednesday sent the Blade pictures of her “from the trenches” where she and her unit are fighting. Ashton-Cirillo said “this act of war by Putin has set in motion a timely and irreversible civil rights movement in Ukraine, one that has been extraordinarily beneficial to the LGBTQ community.”

“From hundreds of openly queer men and women serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine to President Zelenskyy’s positive statement about civil partnerships and human rights as applied to the community, what Putin has done has allowed freedom to bloom in Ukraine.” 

KHARKIV, Ukraine — Anna Sharyhina, co-founder of the Sphere Women’s Association, a group that promotes LGBTQ+ and intersex rights in Ukraine, on Sept. 25, 2022, led a Pride march in a subway station in Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city that is less than 30 miles from the Russian border in eastern Ukraine.

Kharkiv Pride took place during the Ukrainian military’s counteroffensive against Russian troops in Kharkiv Oblast. Sphere Fundraising Manager Ruslana Hnatchenko on Tuesday told the Washington Blade during a Zoom interview the subway was the only safe place for the event to happen, but she said it was “very important for us to have it in Ukraine and have it in Kharkiv.”

“Kharkiv carries a significance of being at the frontline and it is so close to Russia,” said Hnatchenko. “It was great to have it there.”

Friday marks one year since Russia launched its war against Ukraine.

Dmitry Shapoval, a gay man with HIV from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and Anastasiia Baraniuk and her partner, Yulia Mulyukina, who were living together from Dniptro, a city on the Dnieper River in central Ukraine, are among the millions of people who have left Ukraine over the last year.

Hnatchenko was in Budapest, Hungary, studying for her master’s degree when the war began, and she spoke with the Blade from there. She visited her family over the Christmas holidays, but they met in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine that is close to the country’s border with Poland, because it was safer than Kharkiv.

“It was unsafe for me to come to Kharkiv,” said Hnatchenko. “It would be better for everyone to meet in the west.”

A Russian airstrike on March 1, 2022, killed Elvira Schemur, a 21-year-old law school student who was a volunteer for Kharkiv Pride and Kyiv Pride. Schemur was volunteering inside Kharkiv’s regional administration building when she was killed.

Hnatchenko said activists in Kherson, a city that Ukrainian forces liberated last November, told her Russian soldiers “were aware of where people from vulnerable groups (LGBTQ+ and intersex people and Roma people) lived.” Hnatchenko told the Blade people who identified as LGBTQ+, intersex or nonbinary did not go outside during the occupation because they were afraid of being forcibly conscripted, attacked or sexually assaulted.

“A lot of LGBT people just tried not to go outside … and obviously not to expose anything about their identity,” she said.

Hnatchenko also told the Blade women and girls in Kherson tried to dress in a “non-attractive way” in order “to make themselves look ugly, so the troops would take less interest in them.”

‘We help our soldiers’

Activists and advocacy groups remain defiant. They also continue to support LGBTQ+ and intersex Ukrainians who remain inside the country and servicemembers.

Hnatchenko said Sphere has provided humanitarian assistance and psychological support to more than 1,500 people. 

Outright International, RFSL (the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Rights), Hivos and private donors inside Ukraine and elsewhere have donated funds that have allowed Sphere to purchase generators, clothes and blankets that it has distributed to Kharkiv’s LGBTQ+ and intersex residents during blackouts that Russia’s attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure have caused.

The U.S. Agency for International Development and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief over the last year have delivered millions of doses of antiretroviral drugs for Ukrainians with HIV/AIDS. Then-Kyiv Pride Executive Director Lenny Emson last month during a photo exhibit at Ukraine House in D.C. that highlighted Ukrainian LGBTQ+ and intersex servicemembers noted the organization continues to purchase basic supplies for them.

“We buy shoes. We buy underwear. We buy socks. We buy heaters,” said Emson. “We help our soldiers.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the last year has indicated his support of LGBTQ+ and intersex rights.

Zelenskyy last summer said he supports a civil partnerships law for same-sex couples. 

Ukrainian lawmakers late last year unanimously approved a media regulation bill that will ban hate speech and incitement based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The measure passed days before Zelenskyy, a former actor and comedian, met with President Joe Biden at the White House and addressed Congress.

Zelenskyy last month made a broad reference to LGBTQ+ and intersex rights in a virtual Golden Globes appearance. Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova during the Jan. 26 event in D.C. applauded Kyiv Pride and other LGBTQ+ and intersex rights groups in her country.

“Thank you for everything you do in Kyiv, and thank you for everything that you do in order to fight the discrimination that still is somewhere in Ukraine,” said Markarova. “Not everything is perfect yet, but you know, I think we are moving in the right direction. And we together will not only fight the external enemy, but also will see equality.”

Biden on Feb. 20 met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

Hnatchenko told the Blade she thinks Zelenskyy “does believe in human rights.”

“Maybe he’s not a full-blown ally, yet, but I think he believes in human rights,” she said, while noting she was sharing her personal thoughts about Zelenskyy. “He’s not only doing that because of the pressure from partners, but there’s pressure from within Ukraine to not do that.”

Hnatchenko further acknowledged conservative politicians, prominent figures within the Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox Churches and many Ukrainians themselves remain opposed to LGBTQ+ and intersex rights.

“He (Zelenskyy) is kind of between a rock and a hard place in that sense, but I believe that human rights in Ukraine will overcome, especially after our victory,” said Hnatchenko. “We will make progress.”

Helen Globa, co-founder of Tergo, a support group for parents and friends of LGBTQ+ and intersex Ukrainians, on March 2, 2022, left her apartment in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha. She lived in New York with her son, Bogdan Globa, and his husband until she returned to Ukraine last August.

Helen Globa, like Hnatchenko, acknowledged many Ukrainians remain opposed to LGBTQ+ and intersex rights, but she said Zelenskyy’s support of civil unions for same-sex couples and LGBTQ+ and intersex Ukrainians in the country’s armed forces are two tangible results of activists’ work in the country. Helen Globa also said one of the reasons she decided to return to Ukraine was to continue her support of these efforts.

“I love Ukraine and my life, my activities,” she told the Blade on Wednesday. “I do believe in our victory and further opportunities to finish my LGBTQ human rights activities by pushing our government to adopt same-sex partnership and marriages.”

Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, a Transgender woman from Las Vegas who enlisted in the Ukrainian military after she covered the war, echoed Helen Globa.

“This act of war by Putin has set in motion a timely and irreversible civil rights movement in Ukraine, one that has been extraordinarily beneficial to the LGBTQ community,” Ashton-Cirillo told the Blade on Tuesday from the frontlines where she is fighting with the 209th Battalion of the 113th Brigade in the Donbas. “From hundreds of openly queer men and women serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine to President Zelenskyy’s positive statement about civil partnerships and human rights as applied to the community, what Putin has done has allowed freedom to bloom in Ukraine.”

WASHINGTON — Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova on Jan. 26 spoke in support of LGBTQ+ and intersex rights during an event that highlighted her country’s LGBTQ+ servicemembers.

“(The) LGBTQ+ community is an inseparable community of us, whether it’s here or in Ukraine,” said Markarova. “The faster we can stop any discrimination, the faster we will win, not only in the battlefield in Ukraine, but we also will win globally.”

Markarova spoke during a photo exhibit at Ukraine House that showcased LGBTQ+ and intersex Ukrainian servicemembers.

QUA – LGBTQ Ukrainians in America, the Ukrainian Union of the LGBT Military and KyivPride organized the exhibit that features photographs from Alim Yakubov, a Crimean Tartar who moved to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, after Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014.

KyivPride Executive Director Lenny Emson, QUA – LGBTQ Ukrainians in America President Bogdan Globa and U.S. Agency for International Development Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam are among those who spoke alongside Markarova.

Viktor Pylipenko, an openly gay Ukrainian servicemember who founded the Ukrainian Union of the LGBT Military, spoke via a video from the frontlines of Russia’s war against his country. A Russian missile attack forced him to end his remarks and seek shelter.

“I want to thank all of them for their service to country,” said Markarova. “It’s unbelievable and (the) ultimate sacrifice to be there in harm’s way.”

Markarova also described Globa as “a leader for all Ukrainians here” and said she is “really thankful for all the activities that we do together, and everything that you do.” Globa later told the Washington Blade that Markarova is the first Ukrainian ambassador to speak at an LGBTQ-specific event in the U.S.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2021 pledged Ukraine would continue to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity after he met with President Joe Biden at the White House.

Russia on Feb. 24, 2022, launched its war against Ukraine.

Zelenskyy last summer said he supports a civil partnership law for same-sex couples.

Ukrainian lawmakers last Dec. 15 unanimously approved a media regulation bill that bans hate speech and incitement based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Zelenskyy less than a week later traveled to D.C.

Zelenskyy, a former actor and comedian, earlier this month made a broad reference to LGBTQ and intersex rights in a virtual Golden Globes appearance.

Markarova praised Emson and Kyiv Pride and other Ukrainian LGBTQ and intersex rights groups that include Gender Z and Insight.

“Thank you for everything you do in Kyiv, and thank you for everything that you do in order to fight the discrimination that still is somewhere in Ukraine,” said Markarova, speaking directly to Emson. “Not everything is perfect yet, but you know, I think we are moving in the right direction. And we together will not only fight the external enemy, but also will see equality.”

“It’s a constant fight,” added Markarova. “It’s a fight that makes us better. It’s a fight that makes us freer, and it’s a fight that ultimately will give us the opportunity to live in the country where everyone again, regardless of their nationality, religion, color of their skin or sexuality, can live where they want to live.”

Markarova also noted Russia “brutally crossed the border and attacked us in 2014 and again attacked us now.” She added her country is “also fighting for something bigger.”

“We are fighting for our right to live how we want to live. We are fighting for our democracy. We’re fighting for the right to choose who we want to choose and whether it has to do with the government or whether it has to do with who we love and how we believe and this is very important,” said Markarova. “This is what differentiates Ukraine from Russia that attacks us; that we are free, we are democratic and we want to live like we want to live. That’s why we will never give up or surrender again.”

BEVERLY HILLS — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday in a virtual Golden Globes appearance made a broad reference to LGBTQ+ and intersex rights in his country.

“I can definitely tell you who were the best in the previous year: It was you, the free people of the free world. Those who united around the support of the free Ukrainian people in our common struggle for freedom, democracy, for the right to live, to love, to give birth, no matter who are you are, no matter where you are from, no matter who you are with,” said Zelenskyy in a video message shown during the Golden Globes ceremony that took place at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.

Zelenskyy, a former actor and comedian, in 2021 pledged Ukraine would continue to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity after he met with President Joe Biden at the White House.

Russia on Feb. 24, 2022, launched its war against Ukraine. 

Zelenskyy last summer said he supports a civil partnerships law for same-sex couples.

Ukrainian lawmakers last Dec. 15 unanimously approved a media regulation bill that bans hate speech and incitement based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Zelenskyy less than a week later traveled to D.C.

WARSAW – A controversial bill that would further limit access to comprehensive sexual education and anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination preventative classes in schools was vetoed last week by Polish President Andrzej Duda.

The measure, similar in nature to an earlier measure also vetoed by Duda, would have implemented restrictions on curriculum and school activities, giving the country’s central government more control over the regional school systems and administrative staff.

The legislation was put forward by the majority ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party in Poland’s Parliament known as the Sejm and Senate. Przemysław Czarnek, the ultra-conservative education minister, who backed both bills has publicly claimed that reforms are needed to “protect children from moral corruption.”

Both measures would give school administrators and superintendents the power to remove books, lessons, and ban student participation in events or clubs that are LGBTQ+ affirming.

The first passed the lower house of Poland’s parliament, known as the Sejm, this past January 13, in a 227-214 vote. President Duda vetoed that initial version in March 2022. Undeterred law makers then drafted a later version, which moved control over directly to the education ministry.

Czarnek,  who has been vehemently opposed to the LGBTQ+ rights and the country’s equality movement, working with lawmakers was able to get the second version through the Parliament this past October.

The law, if signed, would have allowed Education Minister-appointed provincial education superintendents to suspend headteachers [principals/headmasters] if they conclude there is an “urgent threat to the safety of students during activities organized by a school.”

Czarnek, has been a leading figure in a campaign against what he has labeled “LGBT ideology,” which the minster alleges “comes from the same roots as Nazism”.

The legislation specified that schools would have had to submit details of extracurricular activities for the superintendent’s approval at least two months before they take place. The legislation also introduces additional hurdles for seeking the consent of parents for such activities.

Opponents of the measures say they were intended to prevent certain outside groups – such as sex educators or those speaking about LGBTQ+ issues – from entering schools.

Czarnek has staked out several public vitriolic anti-LGBTQ+ positions that has included an attack on the LGBTQ+ community in the United States, specifically West Hollywood, California.

Speaking with a reporter on Serwis Info Poranek with the national state-run TVP Info (TVP3 Polska) last June, the Education Minister said- (translated from Polish):

“Let’s end the discussion about these LGBT abominations, homosexuality, bisexuality, parades of equality. Let us defend the family, because failure to defend the family leads to what you see.

As he spoke these words, he was holding a phone in his hand, on the display of which he showed a picture of several people. – These are the Los Angeles guys in downtown last June. I was on a delegation there, I was passing through, there was a so-called gay pride parade there – he added. – We are at an earlier stage, there are no such things with us yet, but such chaps shamelessly (shamelessly – ed.) Walk the streets of the western city of Los Angeles – he added.

Passage of the second measure led to widespread protest by students and advocates across Poland. Human Rights Watch noted that students and activists regularly gathered in front of Warsaw’s Presidential Palace and across the country to demand respect for their rights.

They called on President Duda to veto a controversial bill that would further limit access to comprehensive sexuality education and anti-discrimination classes in schools.

Last Thursday Duda told reporters:

“I refuse to sign this bill,” said Duda. “I understand that some people will be disappointed, but a large part of our society will be calmed by this [decision].”

He then noted that he had received over 130 protest letters against the law, some signed by dozens of organizations, with political views ranging from progressives to ultra far-right.

“Entities from all sides of the political scene find points in this act that they have very serious doubts about and against which they protest,” said Duda. “Unfortunately, it has not been possible to achieve what I would call a social compromise…The bill has not received wide social acceptance.”

The president emphasised – as he did when vetoing the similar law last March – that Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine makes it all the more important for “us to have peace” at home rather than conflict and division.

In a statement, Human Rights Watch said: “The public has taken to Poland’s streets countless times since the conservative Law and Justice party came to power in 2015 and launched an attack on women’s and LGBT rights, judicial independence, and education. Despite enduring civil society resistance and international pressure, the Polish government is likely to continue trying to limit students’ access to accurate, inclusive, and age-appropriate sexuality education.”

Notes from Poland reported that one of the opposition progressive MPs, Katarzyna Lubnauer of the liberal Modern (Nowoczesna) party, hailed Duda’s veto as “a great victory for Polish schools, for all NGOs, for parents, children and all those who participate in education”

KYIV, Ukraine — Lawmakers in Ukraine on Thursday unanimously approved a media regulation bill that will ban hate speech and incitement based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“It’s a big step for Ukraine, to start adoption of our legislation to European values,” Olena Shevchenko, chair of Insight, a Ukrainian LGBTQ+ and intersex rights group, told the Washington Blade. “We hope our government will recognize LGBTQI people as equal as soon as possible.”

Ukraine unanimously passes new law banning discrimination against LGBTQ people 🌈👏🏼🌈 pic.twitter.com/IErI4snYvf

— Adam Zivo (@ZivoAdam) December 15, 2022

Ukraine since 2015 has banned employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2021 pledged Ukraine would continue to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity after he met with President Joe Biden at the White House. 

Russia on Feb. 24, 2022, launched its war against Ukraine. Zelenskyy less than six months later said he supports a civil partnerships law for same-sex couples.