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Ukrainian lawmakers pass LGBTQ-inclusive media regulation bill

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy backed civil partnerships law in August

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Viktoriya, a woman from northern Ukraine who is completing her PhD in Berlin, marches in the Christopher Street Day parade on July 23, 2022. Ukrainian lawmakers have passed a bill that will ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Lawmakers in Ukraine on Thursday unanimously approved a media regulation bill that will ban hate speech and incitement based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“It’s a big step for Ukraine, to start adoption of our legislation to European values,” Olena Shevchenko, chair of Insight, a Ukrainian LGBTQ and intersex rights group, told the Washington Blade. “We hope our government will recognize LGBTQI people as equal as soon as possible.”

Ukraine since 2015 has banned employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2021 pledged Ukraine would continue to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity after he met with President Joe Biden at the White House. 

Russia on Feb. 24, 2022, launched its war against Ukraine. Zelenskyy less than six months later said he supports a civil partnerships law for same-sex couples.

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Germany

1 dead, 15 injured when van drives into crowd at Berlin Pride

Incident took place in city’s Tiergarten park

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(Washington Blade photo by Ernesto Valle)

At least one person died on Saturday when a van drove into a crowd at Berlin’s annual Pride march.

German media reports indicate the incident took place shortly before 10 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET) in Tiergarten park.

Berlin police say “the driver of a white vehicle … struck several people.”

At least 15 people were injured, with some of them having “life-threatening injuries.” The driver remains at-large, and the police have launched a manhunt to find them.

Hundreds of thousands of people participate in the annual Christopher Street Day parade — which is one of Europe’s largest Pride events — that winds its way through Berlin. Tiergarten is near June 17 Street and the Brandenberg Gate where post-parade parties and concerts take place.

Authorities cancelled the remaining Pride events after the incident.

The Washington Blade will update this story.

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Poland

Polish president vetoes same-sex relationship recognition bills

Karol Nawrocki: measures would ‘lead to the loss of the special status of marriage’

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Polish President Karol Nawrocki (Screen capture via Karol Nawrocki/YouTube)

Polish President Karol Nawrocki on July 17 vetoed bills that would have extended rights to same-sex couples.

Reuters reported Nawrocki rejected two measures that would have allowed same-sex couples who live together to enter into “cohabitation contracts.” Reuters noted the bills would have allowed same-sex couples to make decisions on issues that include access to medical information, property rights, and burial.

The country’s coalition government backed the bills that MPs approved. Nawrocki, a socially conservative Catholic, in a statement said they “create a new, formalized institution of family law, ​equipped with a broad catalogue of rights similar to those of marriage.”

“As the guardian of the Constitution, I cannot accept a solution that would lead to the loss of the ‌special ⁠status of marriage, defined in Article 18 of the Constitution as a union of a man and a woman under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland,” said Nawrocki, as Reuters noted.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk sharply criticized Nawrocki.

Miko Czerwiński of the Campaign Against Homophobia, a Polish LGBTQ advocacy group, in a statement noted nearly 80 percent of Poles “believe that the status of same-sex couples should be protected.”

“Once again, the voice of society has proven irrelevant to those in power,” said Czerwiński. “We are not willing to accept this. We will continue working towards full marriage equality.”

The EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg last November ruled in favor of a same-sex couple who challenged Poland’s refusal to recognize their German marriage. Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court in March reaffirmed the decision.

The couple, who lives in Poland, brought their case to Polish courts in 2019. The Supreme Administrative Court referred it to the EU Court of Justice.

The Polish government in May announced it will recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other EU countries. Tusk, for his part, apologized to same-sex couples for the “years of rejection and humiliation” they suffered because Poland did not recognize their relationships.

“We will continue working towards full marriage equality,” said Czerwiński in response to Nawrocki’s vetoes. “We will not allow years of work by non-governmental organizations, activists, and our entire community to be wasted.”

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Netherlands

Dutch prime minister scheduled to open World Pride human rights conference

Rob Jetten is country’s first openly gay head of government

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Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten (Photo courtesy of the Dutch government)

Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten is scheduled to open this year’s World Pride Human Rights Conference in Amsterdam.

Organizers in a July 1 press release said Jetten will open the conference on Aug. 5. Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema; South African Deputy Minister for Women, Youth, and People with Disabilities Steve Letsike; former Venezuelan National Assemblywoman Tamara Adrián; and Graeme Reid, the independent U.N. expert on LGBTQ and intersex issues, are among those who are also expected to participate in the gathering that will end on Aug. 7.

Jetten, 39, in February became the Netherlands’s first openly gay prime minister.

His centrist D66 party won the country’s elections last October. Geert Wilders’s far-right Party for Freedom narrowly lost.

Jetten took office after he formed a coalition government that includes the center-right Christian Democrats and the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy.

World Pride will take place in Amsterdam from July 25-Aug. 8.

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