What LGBT+ rights Ukraine must guarantee for EU membership and why progress has stalled

Ukrainian parliament has yet to make any meaningful progress on two draft laws introducing registered partnerships. Moreover, the proposed new Civil Code contains provisions that could represent a step back.

In the context of meeting the criteria for EU accession, the main concern surrounding the draft legislation is its narrowing of the definition of "family" and the introduction of a new term, "de facto family union", defined exclusively as the cohabitation of two persons of the opposite sex as a family without registering a marriage.

Read more about Ukraine's obligations to the EU regarding LGBT+ rights in the column by diplomat and human rights advocate Zoryan Kis: Anti-gender resistance: why Ukraine is not meeting EU requirements on LGBT+ rights.

The author argues that, in the area of LGBT+ rights, Ukraine must develop and adopt legislation that guarantees three key elements of protection: legal recognition of same-sex couples; equal rights and protection from discrimination in all areas of life, not just employment; effective mechanisms to combat hate crimes and hate speech.

According to Kis, most of this "homework" has been completed.

"Respect for the rights of LGBTQI+ people is an integral part of the European Union's foundations: respect for human rights and the protection of minorities. These two principles were enshrined in the Copenhagen criteria for EU membership, and they are not a menu from which one can pick only the 'sweet' items. The things society happens to like or feels 'ready' for," the diplomat stresses.

Two benchmarks under Chapter 23, Judiciary and Fundamental Rights, relate directly to LGBT+ rights:

IBM 23.14 – Equality and Non-Discrimination: Ensured further progress towards legislative alignment of national law with the EU acquis on equality and non-discrimination, including the ECtHR judgement of 1 June 2023.

IBM 23.14.2 – Further progress towards legislative alignment of national law with the EU acquis on hate crime and hate speech.

"The explicit reference to a specific ECHR judgment in the accession requirements under Cluster 1 ('Fundamentals') leaves very little room for manoeuvre.

Sooner or later, Ukraine will have to meet this benchmark," the author argues.

In its judgment of 1 June 2023 in Maymulakhin and Markiv v. Ukraine, the European Court of Human Rights explicitly ruled for the first time that Ukraine's failure to provide any form of legal recognition and protection for same-sex couples constitutes discrimination.

Ukrainian parliament has still not advanced the two draft laws on registered partnerships. Moreover, the proposed new Civil Code may represent a regression.

"We must once and for all rid ourselves of the manipulative narratives promoted by the anti-gender movement and move confidently forward in the direction dictated by our civilisational choice.

We cannot speak about returning to the European family while simultaneously copying Moscow's legal approaches and disguising them as the 'protection of traditional values'," the diplomat concludes.