Ukrainian churches oppose same-sex partnership bill
Anti-LGBT protesters hold flags and stand next to a cross, during a rally against a gay parade in downtown Kiev, Ukraine. Photo EPA, Stepan Franko
Eastern Europe
Ukrainian churches oppose the same-sex partnership bill introduced in Ukraine recently. The Council calls it an "attack on the institution of marriage and family established by God and the Constitution of Ukraine."
The new bill proposes to equate same-sex partnership to heterosexual relationships, classifying both as a "family union." That requires a change of the Family Code of Ukraine, the umbrella organisation All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations writes in a statement.
This development worries the Council, which appealed to the chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament with objections to the legalisation of same-sex partnership. Members of the Council ask the Ukrainian MPs to reject the bill. According to the churches, the bill threatens "the moral and physical health of children and their right to an upbringing in a family created based on the marriage of a man and a woman."
In addition, the Council thinks that allowing same-sex couples to register as a couple worsens the demographic crisis the country finds itself in, as reported by Kath.net. The church representatives base this notion on the "natural inability of same-sex couples to have children." This would pose an extra problem to the acute demographic problem the country faces, in particular, because of the Russian war, in which many Ukrainians were killed or moved abroad.
Consequences
The Council of Churches also worries that allowing same-sex couples to get an official partnership is a step down a slippery slope, Domradio writes. "We can predict that in the case of the adoption of the above-mentioned draft law, the next step of lobbyists of same-sex relations will be to initiate the possibility of adopting children by same-sex couples, with all extremely negative consequences for the formation of the personality of such children and with the deprivation of their natural right to an upbringing in a full-fledged family - having and father, and mother", the appeal reads.
Instead, the Council believes that it is the duty of the Ukrainian state to "promote the healthy family", strengthen marital relationships and responsible parenthood", Die Tagespost writes.
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