Gay Ukraine International™

Connecting Gay Ukrainians Since 1996

We are the Gay Ukraine International™ (GUI) Independent Project.

We are uniting
- Ukrainian citizens, - Ukrainian men and women living abroad, <
- foreign citizens and persons without ciittizenship living in Ukraine,
which are for strict observance and law guaranteeing of human, civil and political rights and freedoms to the persons of all gender (sexual) groups of the LGBTs – lesbians (“homosexual women”), gays (“homosexual men”), bisexuals, transgender/transsexuals - as well as to straights (“heterosexuals”).

We are a well-established independent organization created in 1996 by several LGBT groups, which have worked in Kharkov, Kiev, Lviv and Odessa since 1991. The founder of our project was Philanthropic Foundation of Oksana Bocharnikoff.

We consider that the LGBTs’ situation and issues in Ukraine are enough difficult and complicated. Only two Ukrainian cities - Kiev and Kharkov - have the more or less developed and open public LGBT life with clubs, cafes, bars, saunas, and river beaches.

Naturally, all the big cities in Ukraine have cruising places (which are AYOR). Many widely known Ukrainian artists, businessmen, politicians and church persons are gay, but practically all are afraid of coming out.

Though the Ukrainian Parliament (Rada) still in December 1991 decriminalized gay sex acting and the Ukrainian public opinion as a rule is enough tolerant in this issue, but the LGBTs so far have to face various serious problems both in public or professional activities and personal private life.

Let us highlight the main problems we are confronting:
- Violations of and inequality in hhuman and other rights and freedoms of LGBTs, particularly their legal and illegal discrimination, as well as physical and psychological violence;
- Homophobia at different levels;< - HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases as well as concomitant factors, including drugs abuse etc.

We are sure that our project contributes a lot  in resolving these and other important problems by elaborating and implementing a complex of different activities. Our top-priority tasks are the following:
- Providing factual and analyticall information for Ukrainian and international public, especially for the LGBT community, through existing mass-media;
- Contributing to international coonntacts and collaboration, especially by participating in LGBT international organizations;
- Trying to unite the Ukrainian LGGBBTs of different orientation and from different regions of Ukraine;
- Elaborating and implementing a sseet of concrete projects following the examples of developed democratic countries, in particular establishing the Centers for prevention from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, for safer sex and social adaptation of LGBT groups;
- Collaborating with the Ukrainiann NGOs and international organizations concerned in the LGBT problematic as well as with the Ukrainian State and local authorities.

We understand that our activity can have conscious (or not well-informed) adversaries, so we are waiting for participation, help and support by all, which are interested in or have democratic convictions.

So we would like to know your opinions and proposals, concerning:
- Problems of the LGBTs in Ukrainee;;
- Possible ways to resolving thesee problems;
- Aims, objectives and forms of accttivity of the Gay Ukraine International;
- The organizational structure of tthe Gay Ukraine International;
- Your possible personal participaattion in activities of the Gay Ukraine International.

To be emphasized is our opinion that nobody can force any one to come out and publish one’s gender (sexual) orientation – all the human beings have the inalienable right for the inviolability of their privacy.

So, we ask you to mark in your messages, whether the information provided by you is confidential or public.

We hope to get feedback from you as soon as possible.

President of the GUI Board

• Bohdan Shevchenko

• Yuri Goncharenko

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©1998-2008 by Gay Ukraine International, Kiev, Ukraine. All rights reserved. Reproduction without prior written permission of Gay Ukraine International strictly prohibited. Opinions expressed by authors do not necessary reflect the editorial points of view.