It's absolutely terrifying that this legislation was even being CONSIDERED, but thankfully, the people of Ukraine and other European countries have stood up to defeat it.
The Ukrainian parliament was scheduled to vote on a new law on Friday which would make it illegal to "spread homosexuality" by "holding meetings, parades, actions, demonstrations and mass events aiming at intentional distribution of any positive information about homosexuality." Ukrainian citizens who broke the proposed law would be facing up to five years in prison for freely expressing any positive opinion about homosexuality through ANY medium.
Scary, right?
Although this exposed the frightening homophobia that is still felt around the globe, it gives us hope to hear that other foreign governments actively denounced the law, while thousands of people signed a petition against it.
On top of Ireland, Argentina, and the European Parliament speaking out against the oppressive law, AllOut.org delivered 120,000 signatures to Ukrainian authorities at the European Union and Council of Europe. Andre Banks, co-founder of the human rights organization, commented on the results of everyone's hard work by saying:
"More than 120,000 All Out members spoke out against this horrendous legislation and pushed it to the top of Europe’s diplomatic agenda. The message of our growing global movement is simple - everyone should be able to live openly and love who they choose. That call has been echoed by the European diplomatic community who played a critical role in blocking the progress of the gay gag law. Above all, this is a victory for our partners in Ukraine. Together we are sending a strong message to the other governments of Eastern Europe. Support for anti-gay laws embolden extremists at the expense of lucrative European ambitions."
As a result of everyone's hard work, the bill has been shelved. Unfortunately, the sitting Parliament can STILL vote on the issue in September before new politicians take over. We're crossing our fingers that doesn't happen.
This is just one of MANY fights that All Out is involved in every day. If U want to learn more about how to spread equality and support the LGBT community around the world, CLICK HERE!
[Image via WENN.]
Tags: europe, gay gag rule, law, legislation, parliament, scary, terrifying, ukraine
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