Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Ukraine face challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ individuals. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and Ukraine's independence in 1991, the Ukrainian LGBTQ community has gradually become more visible and more organized politically, holding several LGBTQ events in Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Kryvyi Rih. In the 2010s and 2020s, positive treatment of LGBTQ people has been on the rise in Ukrainian society.
In a 2010 European study, 28% of Ukrainians polled believed that LGBT individuals should live freely and however they like, the lowest number of all European countries polled apart from Russia. In the 2011 UN Human Rights Council declaration for LGBT rights (A/HRC/RES/17/19), Ukraine expressed its support, along with neighbouring countries Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia, while Russia and Moldova voted against it. In 2015, the Ukrainian Parliament approved an employment anti-discrimination law covering sexual orientation and gender identity, In 2023 the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association ranked Ukraine 39th out of 49 European countries in terms of LGBTQ rights legislation, similarly to EU members Lithuania and Romania. which featured additional LGBTQ-inclusive legislation.
History
During early medieval Kievan Rus to the late medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania no case of execution for one's sexuality is known, contrary to other countries of the time. The maximum punishment during the intermediary high medieval Principality of Kiev and Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia was church fasting, excommunication, prayer, and mandatory repentance.
The Zaporozhian Sich considered homosexuality unchristian and demonic; Cossacks caught in contact with people of the same sex were trampled into the ground by horses.
Given that in 16–18 centuries most of the territories inhabited by Ukrainians were under the control of different states, different laws were in force in the respective territories. In western Ukraine, which was then part of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, gays were mostly beheaded and publicly hanged, in the east (Hetmanate), which was then under the protectorate of Russia, they were impaled or sent to hard labor in Siberia, and in the south, which was then under the rule of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire, gays were brutally killed or castrated.
In Ukrainian villages in the 19th century, group masturbation became widely popular among teenagers, including homosexuals. (, )
After the February Revolution and the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) gaining autonomy in 1917 and declaring independence in 1918, all laws of the Russian Empire were repealed, including the article punishing homosexuality. During the time of the UPR, homosexual relations were legal, but the situation of this population group was not publicly discussed by the politicians of that time due to the War of Independence.
After the formation of the USSR, the authorities initially treated LGBTQ people neutrally, secretly monitoring such people. But after Stalin's rise in later 1920s and Genrikh Yagoda's message accusing homosexuals of "espionage", homosexuality was criminalized in 1933 as part of Stalin's repressions; the corresponding article was introduced into the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR in 1934, and was more often applied to political opponents and dissidents. In January 1936, a commissioner Nikolai Krylenko declared that "homosexuality is a product of moral decay". Later, lawyers and doctors in the USSR also reasoned about homosexuality as a manifestation of "moral decay.".
During the German occupation of Ukraine in 1941–1944, according to official data, the Nazis murdered more than 10,000 homosexuals, some of whom were sent to Nazi concentration camps. Between the 1950s and 1980s, about 25,000 men were officially imprisoned in the USSR.
One of the most famous people convicted of homosexuality in Ukraine was Sergey Paradzhanov, a director of Armenian background. Like other people who did not fit into the norms of the Soviet system, convicted homosexuals in the USSR suffered not only from imprisonment, but also from punitive psychiatry.
Particularly cruel medical experiments were conducted on them (unofficially, of course), often Soviet doctors abused the patient trying to determine the degree of tolerance of a particular person to pain: they cut their tendons, damaged healthy teeth, injected drugs that caused not just degradation of the personality but paralysis of the whole body. In this way, the Soviet system in the 1960s and 1980s turned healthy people who allegedly threatened state security into invalids.
Legality of same-sex sexual activity
Male homosexual sex was legalized in Ukraine in 1991; female homosexual sex was never a crime there. As of 2018, the law relates to same-sex sexual activity when it involves prostitution with people under the legal age of consent or public conduct that is deemed to be in violation of public decency standards. The age of consent is set at 16, regardless of gender and/or sexual orientation.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Article 51 of the Constitution, adopted in 1996, specifically defines marriage as a voluntary union between a man and a woman. No legal recognition exists for same-sex marriage, nor is there any sort of more limited recognition for same-sex couples. However, in early 2018, the Ministry of Justice stated that "the development and submission to the Government of a draft law on the legalization of a registered civil partnership in Ukraine cannot be implemented" due to "numerous appeals from the regional councils, the Council of Churches and other religious organizations".
In June 2018, the Justice Ministry confirmed that currently "there is no legal grounds" for same-sex marriage and civil partnerships in Ukraine.
In July 2022, a petition in Ukraine asking for the legalisation of same-sex marriage reached over 28,000 signatures, and all petitions in Ukraine that reach over 20,000 signatures automatically start the consideration of the President of Ukraine. On 2 August 2022, in response to the petition, Zelensky asked the Government of Ukraine to study legalising same-sex marriage, while also stating that there could be no action as long as the Russo-Ukrainian war continues, as the constitution cannot be changed in wartime, but that there remains a possibility of clarification of same-sex unions by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine or for legalization of same-sex partnerships. The war has spurred efforts to legalize same-sex marriage to ensure gay soldiers' partners are given the same rights and privileges afforded to those in legally recognised marriages, with activists pointing to the service of LGBTQ military personnel as having shifted attitudes towards LGBTQ people.
On 16 November 2024, during a meeting between Ukrainian President Zelensky and representatives of the , one of the student representatives asked him if he would sign the law on registered partnerships. The President curtly replied: "Yes!" (). The student responded with: "Thank you!", and the audience applauded and cheered the President. On 22 January 2026, a draft of a revised Civil Code was submitted to the Parliament of Ukraine by Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk and a large group of lawmakers, intended to "harmonize Ukrainian family law with European Union standards". It introduces amendments that define a family as the cohabitation of a man and a woman and includes a provision to automatically annul marriages if one spouse undergoes legal sex reassignment. The Parliament Speaker has described the proposal as "modern and European". If adopted, the new Civil Code would explicitly exclude same-sex partnerships.
In March 2026, a ruling by the Supreme Court in Kyiv recognized same-sex couples as de facto family.
Adoption and parenting
Single people who are citizens of Ukraine, regardless of sexual orientation, are allowed to adopt, but same-sex couples are explicitly banned from adoption (Clause 211 of Family Code of Ukraine). The law also mentions that people "whose interests conflict with the interests of the child" may not be adopters, but whether this provision has ever been applied against gay adopters is unknown.
Additional restrictions are placed on foreign adopters. Only couples married in a registered different-sex marriage are allowed to adopt children from Ukraine.
However, lesbian couples are given more access to parenting than men, as IVF and assisted insemination treatments are legal.
After having failed to gain enough votes on 5 and 9 November 2015, the Ukrainian Parliament approved an amendment to the Labor Code banning sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination at work on 12 November 2015. The law passed on 12 November 2015 was an EU requirement for Ukraine to move forward in its application for visa-free travel to the Schengen Area. In favor of the bill, Groysman stated "the individual and his rights are at the foundation of our society." In April 2020, a parliamentary draft aimed at amending the Ukrainian Criminal Code to address hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity was introduced. However, in September 2020, the draft was withdrawn from consideration following the Committee on Law Enforcement’s conclusion, citing the absence of terms such as “gender identity of a person,” “sexual orientation,” “intolerance towards gender identity,” and others within Ukrainian legislative texts.
In November 2016, the Ukrainian Parliament initially refused to back the Istanbul Convention, a Council of Europe domestic violence treaty, because its references to sexual orientation and gender violated what many Ukrainian lawmakers said were basic Christian values. The Ukrainian Council of Churches, too, opposed the ratification of the Istanbul Convention citing, “promotion of gender ideology,” which they claimed was threatening to the younger generations’ since it could “distort their sexual identity, popularize the same-sex relations, and spread gender dysphoria.” The Council of Churches did not change their opinion on the Istanbul Convention following the Russian full-scale invasion in 2022, and argued against its ratification, advocating for “alternative ways of combating domestic violence and violence against women.” Despite the opposition from religious groups, eleven years after signing the Istanbul Convention, Ukrainian Parliament voted to ratify the Convention in response to the surge of reports of violence against women since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale aggression. The adoption of the Treaty coincided with Ukraine’s EU membership bid, with some EU members indicating that ratifying the Convention is a precondition for approving Ukraine’s candidacy status. by 259 votes against 8. Ukraine submitted its instrument of ratification on 18 July 2022, so the Convention entered into force in Ukraine on 1 November 2022.
In December 2022, the Ukrainian Parliament unanimously passed a bill that banned hate speech and discrimination against LGBTQ people in mass media. The provision was included in the media regulation bill, which was one of the main requirements for approval of Ukraine’s EU candidacy status. The bill aimed to align Ukrainian legislation with the EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Directive (EU) 2018/1808).
Rule of Law Roadmap 2025
On 14 May 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted and approved a roadmap for transformations in the areas of the rule of law upon joining the EU,
In 2011, the Ukrainian Civil Code was amended to allow transgender people who have undergone gender affirming surgery to change their name to better reflect their gender identity. In 2014, seven people had undergone sex reassignment surgery, and five people received new documentation. Transgender individuals who are married or have an underage child can also apply for transition. Previously, all applicants needed permission from a special commission of the Ministry of Healthcare, had to spend 30 days in a psychiatric hospital (usually placed in the same wards with patients considered "mentally ill"), and needed to be "diagnosed with transsexuality"; this is no longer required.
Military service
All able-bodied male citizens from ages 20–27, must serve either 18 months in the navy or one year in another service. After serving out the term of service, Ukraine's conscripts become part of the inactive reserve and are eligible to be recalled for mobilization until they reach age 55 or age 60 for officers.
According to law, homosexuality is not a reason for exemption from the army. However, many young gay men try to avoid call-up to military service, as they are afraid to face unauthorized relations and other difficulties. In 2018, Viktor Pylypenko, who had served in the war in Donbas for two years, became the first Ukrainian soldier to come out publicly. In 2019, several gay soldiers in the Ukrainian army participated in a photo exhibition called "We are here". In 2021, Pylypenko was trying to organize a special unit in the Ukrainian army for LGBTQ soldiers.
The 2022 Russian invasion resulted in an increased influx of openness and acceptance regarding LGBTQ soldiers in the Ukrainian military. A growing number of soldiers disclosed their identity, believing that they could fight not just for their home country but also against existing stereotypes. The invasion also saw the spread of "unicorn insignia" which Ukrainian LGBTQ soldiers sew onto their uniforms. The unicorn was chosen due to its nature as "fantastic 'non-existent' creature", sarcastically countering claims about there being no LGBT+ individuals in the Ukrainian military.
Blood donation
On February, 8, 2022, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health quietly enacted new regulations governing blood donation, allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood. These changes had been initially proposed in 2016. Previously, the Ministry of Health listed homosexuality as a "risky behaviour" for which donors could not give blood.