Advancing LGBT rights is a prerequisite for Ukraine to join the European Union
A Ukrainian municipal court has effectively acknowledged a same-sex relationship between two men as a legal union, despite national laws prohibiting gay marriage, local media reported Thursday.
According to the Legal-Judicial Paper news outlet, the decision was made in a civil case involving a Foreign Ministry employee stationed abroad and his partner in Kiev, who sought permission to leave Ukraine on grounds of family reunification.
The couple, together since 2013, were legally married in the United States in 2021. Ukrainian authorities denied the travel request, citing the country’s legal definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
While the court did not classify the relationship as a marriage under Ukrainian law, it determined the men constituted a family unit due to their cohabitation and shared domestic life, despite the lack of a valid legal or blood relationship.
The ruling, issued last month, may still be appealed to the Kiev city court, the newspaper said, adding that the Foreign Ministry declined to take part in the proceedings.
Ukraine has long expressed its ambition to join the European Union, which has made support for LGBT rights a key benchmark for candidate nations. Kiev has been under pressure to adopt reforms aligning with EU human rights standards for over a decade.
In 2015, then President Pyotr Poroshenko proposed legally recognizing same-sex civil partnerships by 2017. Current leader Vladimir Zelensky renewed that push in August 2022, telling the government to explore legal frameworks for same-sex unions.
However, right-wing nationalist groups, which hold significant sway in the country, continue to resist the agenda, often vocally and at times violently.
