Support for gay unions in Ukraine has become the majority position following Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in 2022, according to the Reuters news agency.
Reuters offered this observation in a report on the European Court of Human Rights ruling against Ukraine, after a gay couple complained they were unable to marry at seven different register offices. Their complaint focused around the Ukrainian constitution stating marriage is “based on the free consent of a woman and a man.”
A survey by the National Democratic Institute and the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in January, Reuters noted, “found that 56% of Ukrainians support same-sex civil partnerships, while 24% oppose it.”
They added, however, that “such partnerships did not enjoy majority support prior to Russia’s invasion in February 2022, and gay pride marches have been met with violent opposition from Ukrainian far-right groups.”
Indeed, as recently as 2010 the Pew Research Center reported that only 28 per cent of Ukrainians agree that “gay men and lesbians should be free to live their own lives as they wish” – a much milder prospect that changing the definition of marriage.
Why there has been such a change in attitudes since the invasion is unclear, although it is possible that social conservatives now serving at the front or living in territory controlled by Russia were beyond the reach of the National Democratic Institute and Kyiv International Institute of Sociology pollsters.