Council of Churches Asks President Yanukovych to Prevent Support of Resolution of PACE on Gays

KYIV – In a special letter to Ukraine's president, the chairman of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, responsible person for the external relations of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine, Markian Trofymiak, expressed concern over the support by the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Ukraine of the recommendation adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity approved on March 31, 2010.

Trofymiak has addressed President Yanukovych on behalf of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches, reports UNIAN. "Especially strange is the fact that the Ukrainian party in the Council of Europe represented by the MFA of Ukraine supported this document despite the address of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations to Ukraine's president and minister of foreign affairs of January 18, 2010, where heads of churches strongly objected against implementation in our country of any initiatives aimed at propaganda of homosexuality and attempts of legalization of same sex relations," says the address.

The ministers stress that the agenda of the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) of April 28, 2010, "includes the question of discrimination according to sexual orientation and gender identification."

"One should note that according to the published materials of PACE, in the consideration of this issue, the participants will vote for a draft resolution and recommendations (Document 12185) which requires of all the member countries of the Council of Europe to guarantee legal recognition of same sex relations and to expand the rights of the representatives of the homosexual community to the same  level of legal provision as a marriage between a man and a woman in the Ukrainian society. In addition, the mentioned resolution calls not to discriminate anyone according to sexual orientation during the adoption process," reads the letter.

The Council of Churches asks President Yanukovych to make steps to prevent the Ukrainian side from supporting the resolution of PACE.

On the other hand, LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people) communities support the position of Ukraine in the Council of Europe as to the approval of the "historic recommendations to overcome discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity," reports the website of LGBT Communities.

The campaigners for the rights of sexual minorities remind that on January 25, the community of non-governmental organizations of Ukraine addressed the Ukrainian delegation in PACE with a call to vote for equal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons in the European subcontinent and that on March 3 an Open Address of 25 public associations to President Yanukovych with a request to continue the course toward equal civic rights of LGBT citizens was published.