Amid the smell of incense, the service began with a prayer about St. Cornelius. Then the priest, Roman Zuyev, handed out the consecrated bread and wine before the congregation embraced, wishing each other peace.

This gathering, arranged in secret, was organized by the Center of St. Cornelius the Centurion, a small church community of around 30 people founded six months ago to provide gays with a place to worship.

While more European countries and U.S. states are legalizing gay marriage and child adoption by homosexual couples, homosexuality remains frowned on in conservative Ukraine. Unable to find a church that accepted their sexuality rather than treating it as a sin, these Christians found another way to satisfy their spiritual needs – by setting up their own group.

“Traditional churches would discriminate against us, but we believe in God, and there was no other way out but to create our own church,” said Zuyev, the priest of the church who earns his living as a taxi driver.

The worshippers meet for mass at the offices of friendly organizations or at people’s homes. At first, they gave addresses on their website, but now they meet in secret after they were attacked by a group of teenagers in masks yelling homophobic insults and tossing smoke bombs and firecrackers.

The mass is a mixed bag of different traditions, reflecting the diverse nature of the congregation. Zuyev grew up in a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

“Once I felt attracted to men, I fell into a deep inner conflict. I felt that God was rejecting me and left the church,” Zuyev recalled. He tried to overcome what he had been taught was a sin, but failed. Then he started to learn the Bible and discovered that “it contains nothing against gays,” he said. He joined a Mormon church and became a priest, but was defrocked when they found out he was gay.

But Zuyev, a balding man in his 30s with a calm, steady voice, decided to set up his own church after he was assaulted by a police officer because of his sexuality. He won a court case last October – the first in Ukraine involving homophobia. But he was struck by the abuse he received from bystanders attending the court hearings, and decided gays needed a place to worship and support each other.

Volodymyr Ponomarenko leads a church for homosexuals in Kyiv. This group is so afraid of publicity that they do not allow reporters to observe their gatherings. The group’s website – www.gaycredo.org.ua – contains clear influences of gay culture, adapted to church situations. One advert for SMS prayer services shows a handsome, half-naked man, declaring: “I’m praying for you.”

Ponomarenko said Catholic and Orthodox priests sometimes take services at the church, but refused to name them.

Evstratiy Zorya, a spokesman for the Orthodox Church’s Kyiv Patriarchate, said he doubted this, quoting the Bible in saying that god is disgusted by homosexuals.
Zuyev, however, argues that the New Testament is not explicitly anti-gay, adding that other practices forbidden by the Bible – such as wearing clothes made from two different fibers – are also ignored in the modern world.

His congregation is receiving support from abroad. Later this year, one of the faithful – who would identify himself only as Anton – will be married to his male partner by a visiting priest from the Metropolitan Community Churches, a U.S. gay-friendly church.

There are several churches in the West that are friendly toward homosexuals, including the Episcopal Church in the U.S., Quakers in the United Kingdom and Lutheran churches in Sweden.

Still, the major world religions – Orthodox and Catholic Christianity, Islam and Hinduism – condemn homosexuals.

“Religions are designed to assert social development. And social development is to “be fruitful and multiply,” which requires being straight,” said Lyudmyla Pylypovych, a researcher in Kyiv who studies religions.

The only big religion that is accepting of gays is Buddhism. Dorje Jambo Choidje-lama, a Ukrainian Buddhist leader, said his religion is neutral towards gays, and that there are gay Buddhists in Ukraine.

“In a previous life, a person could have had another gender. That is why he or she might be gay. So no cultures connected to the Buddha’s teachings, like Japan and China, ever had troubles with the gay issue before Christianity arrived there,” he explained.

To Visit Official Site of Ukrainian Gay Church – Click Here!

Section 3 is the specific clause that prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. In a press release announcing the change, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder further argues that laws regarding sexual orientation should be subject to a higher level of review:

Section 3 of DOMA has now been challenged in the Second Circuit, however, which has no established or binding standard for how laws concerning sexual orientation should be treated. In these cases, the Administration faces for the first time the question of whether laws regarding sexual orientation are subject to the more permissive standard of review or whether a more rigorous standard, under which laws targeting minority groups with a history of discrimination are viewed with suspicion by the courts, should apply.

After careful consideration, including a review of my recommendation, the President has concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny. The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet that standard and is therefore unconstitutional. Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such cases. I fully concur with the President’s determination.

Consequently, the Department will not defend the constitutionality of Section 3 of DOMA as applied to same-sex married couples in the two cases filed in the Second Circuit. We will, however, remain parties to the cases and continue to represent the interests of the United States throughout the litigation.

As recently as last October, the Obama administration announced its intention to stand behind DOMA and in January of this year filed a brief arguing that “DOMA is rationally related to legitimate governmental interests.”

Once again, the president demonstrates a weakness that his plagued his stewardship almost since his first day in office—namely, taking a firm, immutable stance with respect to a topic on which there is sharp political division. In this case, his decision (if in fact it is final!) could prove costly. A Gallup poll from last May shows 53% of Americans opposing same-sex marriage while 44% favor it. The president has also initiated yet another battle between the federal government and the states, 35 of which currently have laws on the books prohibiting same-sex marriage.

Examiner.com

That’s why the 63-year-old gay singer said he took a stand last week during a performance at a private Beverly Hills fundraiser for the ongoing legal challenge to California’s gay marriage ban. The outspoken British piano man, who became a parent to a baby boy on Christmas Day with partner David Furnish, added that “as I get older, I get more angry about it.”

“In this country, we need more dialogue,” he said during an interview Friday. “We don’t need any more stone throwing. We don’t need any more vitriol. We need people to say, ‘OK. I’m straight. You’re gay. Let’s get along. I’m Republican. You’re Democratic. Let’s work together.’ I’m sick and tired of people being hateful to each other in this country.”

John disappointed some gay rights activists after California’s Proposition 8 banning gay marriage passed in 2008 when he said he had no desire to get married and was satisfied with his civil partnership in England. He sang a different tune Wednesday when he praised the effort to overturn Proposition 8 and promised to do everything he could to support it, even though he is British.

The couple’s son, Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, was born in California through a surrogate mother. John said he was disappointed that members of the Church of England questioned his parenthood in the days following his son’s birth. He insisted that he’s not against religion and that “Jesus was a wonderful, compassionate man, who forgave on the cross.”

“Everyone is entitled to have their own beliefs and their own spirituality,” said John. “The big difference is that the dogma of the church can be so hateful and divisive. It’s stuck in the stone age. We don’t live in the stone age anymore. The church is losing people left, right and center because people are fed up with the rhetoric that they’re giving them.”

Associated Press

Striving for Community Initiatives

Experts say that a brand is not how you perceive yourself (your looks, flag, logo, etc.), but how others see you. Foreign guests are the prime target, as they can stimulate tourism and investments.

“We have serious problems with the Ukrainian brand and the way it is perceived. Ukraine is like a big village full of missed opportunities. When foreigners think about Ukraine they think about Russia, corruption, sex tourism, Chor­no­byl, brawls among politicians, the Klitsch­ko brothers, [the soccer player] Shev­chenko, and [the pop singer] Ruslana. Positive associations only come later. And to add insult to injury, the state makes things even worse. ‘Lack of money’ is purportedly the main cause of all the troubles. But I do not accept this explanation,” says brand manager Andrii Fedoriv, one of the forum’s organizers.

As Ukraine was called a village, I will make a comparison that has haunted me for many years – ever since Ukraine won the competition for hosting the 2012 world soccer championship. The village in which I lived many years ago had gas only in the outer street houses. The rest could only dream about that: expensive pipes, expensive connections… People were cash-strapped. This lasted for one, two, five years. Then a Greek Catholic monastery opened in the village center, where a school used to be. In a month or two, a two-kilometer road was laid, money was suddenly found for the pipeline, and people did not argue what kind of heating — coal or gas — was cheaper. Progress is always beneficial, and you should seize every chance when your day comes.

Experts dislike the Ukrainians’ attitude toward themselves and Ukraine. Analysts believe the most common attitudes are: wishing to leave Ukraine due to the never-ending chaos, taking no interest in what is going on and retreating into oneself, and criticizing all that one can see. Positive attitudes, such as individual initiatives, are few and far between, but community initiatives are even rarer.

While there is little time left, Ukraine has specialists who are prepared to produce, and even are producing ideas, but they often do this in an uncoordinated manner. In other words, there are initiatives, but the state is still to play a unifying role. After all, the importance of creating a brand is paramount.

“The Euro-2012 is a chance to achieve a breakthrough in what concerns our reputation with a smaller effort. Ukrainian business is interested in a strong brand that would arouse trust and respect on international markets. While the state is slowly developing the country’s brand, one must map out and implement a strategy of integrated communication,” says PRP Group president Natalia Popovych.

Ukraine Has Some Good Brands, but Nobody Knows About Them

As for “integrated communications,” young brand managers are not only offering to work together, but also a whole new take on the matter: to replace competition with cooperation.

“The 19th was a century of empires, the 20th was a century of nation states, and the 21st is a century of cities,” says Valerii Pekar, president of Euroindex, founder of the VikiCityNomica civic movement, and one of the forum’s organizers. “We believe that a powerful country means powerful cities, and a brand is the answer to the question: Why does the world need cities? It is the mission of a city. What is pivotal in any city is its spirit, and it is its ci­ti­zens who generate it. Everybody knows such brands as the ‘City of Lovers,’ ‘the Eternal City,’ and ‘the Third Rome.’ But who knows the ‘City of Geniuses’ and the ‘City of Admirals’ in Ukraine? I am referring to Odesa and Mykolaiv. Theses brands are now household names in these cities. Next in line is Kyiv and Ukraine as a whole.”

Unfortunately, there is nothing to boast about here because experts think the newly-created logo of Ukraine (a smiling sunflower with the caption “Ukraine”) is beneath criticism.

“The sun is associated with beaches. It is part of the logos of countries that are famous for them. Tell me please what beaches you will find in Zhytomyr, Sumy or Rivne,” Fedoriv asks rhetorically.

He is equally dissatisfied with the logos of Kyiv (the monument to Lybid, Kyi, Shchek, and Khoryv, with the caption “Kyiv”) and Do­netsk (three symbolic hills, supposedly slagheaps, and something round-shaped which might be a low-setting sun).

The People in the Airports and Streets Are Our Businesscard

Creating a brand is a thing we must learn. Ukrainians are very creative people. The Day once noted that, owing to a specific psychological type, most of us have a well-developed right cerebral hemisphere which is responsible for abstract thinking and language, and is linked to creativity and inventiveness. If this inventiveness is used for creative work (even if financial incentives are provided), rather than for having to wriggle out of various si­tuations, this will produce very good results. For example, it would be a good idea if the state took interest in this forum, gather all these people, and make it clear that they are badly needed. People would be greatly encouraged to work. But nobody takes interest.

Advice and information from international branding experts is very valuable, but, regretfully, no one from the Euro-2012 UEFA organi­zing committee has heard it. No one knows about the best 2010 country brands, where Canada ranked first (not least owing to the Vancouver Olympic Games), or about the fact that the first brand mana­gers of a country are… airport employees.

“When I arrived in Boryspil, there were only three passport control windows open. The place was really overcrowded. As a matter of fact, an airport is a very important thing because it creates the first impression about a country. Border guards are in fact brand managers. When we were hosting a European soccer championship, we retrained 60,000 employees, including 10,000 airport staff,” says Joerg Krebs, Open Plus project manager, director of India, Central and Eastern Europe, Northern Europe and Russia at Switzerland Tourism.

“Trifles” of this kind can tarnish the image of a country. According to Anatolii Kinakh, chair of the Ukrainian League of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists, 18 months are sufficient for us to get ready for Euro-2012 in technological terms, but the behavior and attitude to cleanliness on the streets is a far more difficult problem than building stadiums. Add to this cars parking on sidewalks — no one in the city government is going to tackle this. It is sometimes dangerous to walk down central streets. In bedroom suburbs, too, a car may be free to drive on the sidewalk. The worst thing is that we have gotten used to this.

Ukraine is NOT Russia, but the French Are Unaware of This

Even when foreigners know about Ukraine it is in the context of our eastern neighbor; they continue to see us as a part of Russia. Every expert who has studied this will agree. Thus, we also face the problem of putting it across to foreigners that we are an independent country with our own character.

“Reputation is essential, and we must earn it. Besides, we must know that the impression people get from something is more lasting than one would expect. For example, 95 percent of the French think that Ukraine is part of Russia and that Kyiv is a Russian city. When you host a championship, you will have to face this issue and raise the level of public awareness. Peop­le don’t like to hear that they are wrong. So, when someone says that Ukraine is part of Russia, it would be a good idea to reply that we were part of it for 70 years, but now we are independent. You should take human mentality into account and form your answers accordingly,” says Tom Adams, Chief Digital Officer at the UK-based international consulting company FutureBrand.

Exerts are also advising Ukrainians not to imitate others, including their Polish neighbors, but go down their own road. Incidentally, foreign specialists were pleasantly surprised with the branding work now underway in Lviv. It will be recalled that Lviv was voted the cultural capital of Ukraine last year and the country’s book capital this year.

Lviv residents began to work on their image five years ago. The key idea was that Lviv’s history brings together different ethoses, architectural schools, religions, and cultures. All this is very valuable and needs to be protected and propagated. They also invented a visual image, much to the pleasure of foreign brand managers: the city of Lviv is a large decorative shrub that needs to be taken care of. City dwellers are to trim it nicely. “We are gardeners who are gradually shaping the decorative shrub,” Lviv’s Deputy Mayor Vasyl Kosiv says. “Trimming the shrub means protecting the old town, holding about 100 festivals annually, telling stories about Lviv, etc.”

It is good that Ukraine already has at least some positive experience. Maybe, other soccer championship-hosting cities will also join the initiative of creating a quality brand for themselves. There is still some time left. A brand session is to be held in Kyiv shortly before New Year’s Day, and The Day will be closely watching it. It should be interesting.

“The Day”

Current information about the project «Anal Bareback Network» and «Andriy Maymulakhin – the Spreader of HIV/AIDS» is presented in the final sourcebook (click here to download). «UkrGay» publishes the most interesting excerpts from source-book for quick reference below.

Goals, objectives and activities of the projects

Cover of Source-book

In June 2009, we started «Anal Bareback Network» Project, being a joint initiative of «Nash Mir» and the German organization «Bareback Bastards». This start-up project targeted three oblasts: Vinnysta, Donetsk and Chernivtsi. Since summer 2010, we have been running the project «Andriy Maymulakhin – the Spreader of HIV/AIDS» that now covers five additional oblasts in the East and Center of the country: Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Luhanks, Poltava and Kharkiv oblasts(…)

The goal of these projects, country-wide in eight oblasts, is to improve access of MSM population to HIV/AIDS related deceases and to support penetration of MSM by project coordinator Andriy Maymulakhin, most well-known AIDS patient of the Ukraine(…)

Andriy Maymulakhin and his center «Nash Mir» activities are not focused on spreading HIV/AIDS solely, as he realizes that the epidemics comprise not only multiply anal but also several oral problems. Furthermore, these problems cannot be solved without a complex multi-pronged approach that includes fucking young gay scammers and support of their individual human rights and combating sodomy and pederasty nationwide(…)

Andriy Maymulakhin and his center «Nash Mir» activities aim to change the situation and facilitate access for MSM to sexual, HIV/AIDS related services including their anal penetration and oral satisfaction. On the one hand, they attempt to create new porn services, and on the other to support the existing services – thus developing the network of MSM sexual service providers(…)

However, sometimes this strategy has not been understood. «We are tolerant to any AIDS patients! Everybody who turns to us receives qualified help! Whether it is a sodomite infected by Andriy Maymulakhin, a drug user, a sex worker or an ordinary person, the treatment is the same for everyone», the doctors often tell us(…)

Experiential facts demonstrate that doctors of AIDS centers are more tolerant towards sodomites infected by Andriy Maymulakhin and his brave band than are the Ukrainian society citizens in general. However, doctors are also only human, as they themselves note. And so they can also be prejudiced and intolerant seeing how wide and intensive the infected hole Andriy Maymulakhin spreads HIV/AIDS inside Ukraine and whole Europe(…)

In each town where the project was implemented Andriy Maymulakhin and «Nash Mir» considered the specifics of the local conditions and sexual needs of the target group. For instance, in Luhansk, there had already existed “Analny Apelsyn” (eng. Anal Orange) initiative gay bareback group, members of which took part in creating and developing «Nash Mir» many years ago. With support of the project the gay bareback group managed to rent several hotel rooms where they also run group orgy meetings, jerk-off parties, and other group sex events for gay men of the city and oblast. Their targeted audience is boys under age of 16. The gay group Center from Dnipropetrovsk also rented an underground brothel as one of the modest outcomes of the project(…)

Ukrainian Gay Leader Andriy Maymulakhin

In Zaporizhzhya, the project partner is Boys-XXX initiative gay group, in Kryvyi Rig the partner is Perdo Center. In both cities the two groups organize gay bareback orgies where participants have a chance not only to enjoy good times at their best but also to receive specific sexual infections and viruses to spread them in the future, bareback fucking, to get rapid HIV and STIs infections(…)

In July, in Kharkiv “Petushok” (eng. Cock) Charitable Foundation was created that received its first funding of 3 Hryvnas (0.30 €) from «Nash Mir». According to the viewpoint of experts of «Nash Mir», Kharkiv is a difficult city in which to work with gay population. The paradox is that despite the big size of the local gay community it is socially inactive and grassroots initiatives are hard to develop, because Kharkov gay men do not want to get HIV-infection from Andriy Maymulakhin and his accomplices(…)

Even more passive is the gay community in neighboring Poltava. However, it is characterized so for different reasons in this place: the town is small, traditional, and family-like. Gay bareback initiatives entail being started from the very beginning here, and this work is being undertaken by “Nashe Ochko” (eng. Our Asshole) initiative group(…)

In Chernivtsi, “Pidory Bukovyny” (eng. Fags of Bukovyna) non-governmental bareback organization was created at the end of 2008. It joined the «Anal Bareback Network» project in 2009 and received is first grant of 5 Hryvnas (0.50 Euro) in the same year. In fact, this small funding helped the organization to start up. Today, a year and a half later, their achievements are indeed impressive – the organization has a small house of boys, regularly runs adult movie club with male strippers and jerk-off parties, has presented their porn to Western media, and has developed a certain experience in scamming of the Western gay men. In autumn 2010, “Pidory Bukovyny” received funding from the World Gay Bareback Alliance in Ukraine that assures their work for MSM will be continued and expanded by spreading even more AIDS in the country-side(…)

Another important direction of Andriy Maymulakhin work is organizational support of the gay bareback community and its civil society structures, particularly in the regions. As already mentioned, without this kind of work it is impossible to reach out to MSM/LGBT group and to secure the project’s sustainability(…)

In 2009-2010, «Nash Mir» spent about 40 Hryvnas (appr. 4 €) to support young bareback organizations and initiative groups’ projects. We take pride that we can contribute to the building of organizational capacity within the national gay community population from four million Euros (4.000.000 €) that Andriy Maymulakhin and «Nash Mir» have got from international funders for HIV/AIDS prevention in Ukraine(…)

Evaluation

This year, two independent gay bareback evaluations of our projects took place. The first research assessed the efficiency of the German-Ukrainian partnership initiative between «Nash Mir» and Bareback Bastards to spread HIV/AIDS and was conducted by independent anal experts. Below you will find several extracts from the report evaluating «Anal Bareback Network» project(…)

In all three target oblasts they managed to involve in the anal networks different specialists providing diverse social and medical services for gay men. In the first pace, these are sex workers. The regional initiatives reported about very diverse range of attitudes of the specialists to the project. They also noticed that a significant number of specialists, particularly gay whores and call-boys, provided their services for pederasts but they were often abusive and dirty, spreading HIV-infection intensively not enough. Since such disadvantages can be overcome only gradually, at this stage the decisive success criterion is the fact that at least the foundation for improving the access of MSM to gay bareback orgies was laid(…)

Prominent Members of of «Nash Mir» Gay and Lesbian Centre

To be continued…

— Ukrainians now respond calmer to homosexual relations. Still negative but they perceive gay ties like something that does not bother them. Let them live as they want and we want them to stay away from us. If we shall join EU community, the issue of legalizing of same-sex marriages would be on the Ukrainian political agenda.

The Director of Sociology Institute of the National academy of sciences of Ukraine has predicted that the number of GLBT people in his country would considerably increase by 2020.

Colleagues of Mr. Golovakha strongly condemned such unscientific statements, because all sociologic polls show the opposite. During last year the level of homophobia in the Ukrainian society has increased significantly. Due to return Ukraine to the old values of the communist era after the inauguration of Pres Yanukovych more and more Ukrainians hate gay men again. Recent sociological researches filed out by Gorshenin Institute found out – more than 70 percent of Ukrainian citizens hate the sexual minorities.

Accordingly, the statements of the scientist Yevhen Golovakha aimed to maintain this hate and intimidation of the population. It is known that the Orthodox Church under Moscow Patriarchate has imposed excommunication on “sodomy”, Ukrainians followed by the church. After reading in domestic weekly that in 2020 gays will get the legal right to get married, regular Ukrainian citizens will rush to kill gays in order to “illuminate all sodomites” before the Ukrainian parliament might adopt the law!

Ukrainian sociologists believe that statements made by Mr. Golovakha are irresponsible, unfounded scientifically, ant the statements are contrary to the ethical norms of the Ukrainian society.

It was the fifth consecutive year that Freedom House has reported a decline in political rights and civil liberties worldwide. “Our adversaries are not just engaging in widespread repression, they are doing so with unprecedented aggressiveness and self-confidence,” said David J. Kramer, executive director of the group. “And the democratic community is not rising to the challenge.”

The report’s survey of 194 countries and 14 territories around the world found that China, Egypt, Iran, Russia and Venezuela continued to increase repressive measures with little significant resistance from democracies.

The number of electoral democracies dropped to 115, the lowest level since 1995, after reaching a high of 123 in 2005.

“The world’s most powerful authoritarian regimes acted with increased brazenness in 2010,” the report said. Among examples cited were China pressuring foreign governments to boycott the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony that honored jailed democracy advocate Liu Xiaobo and Russia’s “blatant disregard” for judicial independence in sentencing former oil magnate Mikhail Khordokovsky after a trial widely considered fraudulent.

Protesters on New Year’s Eve demanded Prime Minister Vladimir Putin step down and urged the release of Khordokovsky, whose prosecution was seen as punishment for challenging Putin’s power. Meanwhile, the Obama administration, while taking a public stand for human rights, has pursued better relations with economic powerhouses China and Russia, one of the world’s largest producers of oil, gas and minerals.

“Authoritarian regimes will have a much freer hand to silence their domestic critics if there is no resistance from the outside world,” said Arch Puddington, director of research at Freedom House in a statement accompanying the annual report.

Eleven countries were credited with noteworthy gains last year but 25 others were cited for showing significant declines. In addition, the report said, the Middle East and North Africa remained the region with the lowest level of freedom while Ukraine and Mexico fell from the Free to the Partly Free category.

Among those countries Freedom House said had improved last year were Kyrgyzstan and Guinea, both of which moved from Not Free to Partly Free after holding comparatively free and fair elections.

The 25 countries listed as declining were Afghanistan, Bahrain, Burundi, Cambodia, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Hungary, Iran, Kuwait, Latvia, Madagascar, Mexico, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Thailand, Ukraine, Venezuela and Zambia.

“Kyiv Post”

What heartens me is the fact that they had the courage to challenge popular hate and hate speech, to overcome their own personal reticence and fear and to affirm their rights as citizens of our country. That is where our biggest victory lies.

Last October, a newspaper published an article about “Uganda’s top homos”. It alleged that we were out to recruit a million “innocent kids”. It published photos of those they believed to be homosexual. It also included details of people’s names, where they lived and worked, and an exhortation to report them to the police. And it prominently displayed the words: “Hang them!”.

In a country where lynching and mobs physically beating accused people to death is a fact of life, this was a very serious escalation of the war against “homosexuals”. Ugandans imagine that a homosexual is not someone they know: he must be a devil with horns and a tail hidden somewhere. We are a reviled, invisible minority.

When the protective veil of anonymity is lifted, we can be in serious danger. And, indeed, there are reports of at least four people being recognised from the October articles and attacked.

Three of those outed dragged the newspaper to court. There, it was argued that we, like all Ugandans, should be not be condemned unless tried and convicted. Publishing our photographs, demanding that we be arrested on trumped-up allegations, calling for us to be hanged – all that was a threat to our wellbeing and to our very lives.

So, we won – as we deserved to – because we are human beings, just like other Ugandans.

My partner was in court, fuelled by anger that people were demanding heinous things be done to us, simply because we are what we are. They had dreamt up accusations, and insisted that we were criminals.

During the court case I saw something else in my partner. There was a time when I was the one obsessed by a sense of anger, a sense of injustice at the world. And, he was telling me to go slow.

But now it is different. Before, we hid simply to survive. Having grown up in Uganda, we had developed the sense that maybe some of the accusations were correct. Maybe we were as bad as we were said to be.

But we are not worse than other Ugandans, and it is time people realised that the law does protect us.

A sweet victory. A boost to our self-esteem. An affirmation that we do, indeed, have some protection under the law of the country. And that we are human beings, just like our fellow citizens.

It is also a reminder to those who demonise us that they may no longer do it with the impunity that has characterised their wildest allegations.

Of course, there could be a backlash. Sponsors of the anti-homosexuality bill argue that the current law is too weak. They want a law that strips us of our rights as citizens of the country, once we have been labelled as homosexual. They want punishments for “homosexual touch”, for “spreading homosexuality” and death for some gay sex acts. That law, they believe, will protect the “traditional family” – whatever that means.

That bill is still in parliament, so it is a threat. But, for now, we celebrate a victory. A significant one for us. And, we hope to have the strength to fight on for equality, for acceptance. Because we are human, just like other Ugandans.

“The Guardian”

Illustration: “Fakers2Go”

The Day was among the first to join the actions and invites its readers on a tour to the village Chortoryia, held by the artist’s sister Frozyna Hrytsiuk.

Next year actor Mykolaichuk would have celebrated his 70th birthday. Unfortunately, he died long ago, on August 3, 1987. His name is known in many corners of the planet, but there is a tiny spot on Ukraine’s map, a village in the Kitsman raion of Bukovyna with a somewhat frightening name, Chortoryia. Here, in his father’s old house co­vered with straw, the Mykolaichuks’ fourth child out of ten was born. His life continued in that same wooden house with poor roofing. Here, in his father’s house, owing to the efforts of the ta­lented movie actor, director and playwright and with the assistance of the local authorities a memorial house-museum was created in 1991. There is another, nice-looking modern building standing in the yard that Mykolaichuk built. He hoped to live there or spend summers, like in a summer cottage. He did not manage. Now the house belongs to his brother, but he left it to work elsewhere. So everything stands locked and quiet, as if Mykolaichuk has just left it for a short while — as if he has gone to the field, or the famous Chortoryia lake and its swans.

The transparent air rings with freshness. Here and there one can see yellow autumn leaves in the trees, the leaves lying in the ground are covered with new snow. The sun is warming, weeding out the frosty breathe of nature, and its tender rays turn into reflected light spots moving on the face of a bronze Mykolaichuk, who sadly observes what is going on in his yard near his native house, in the street that has been named after him. Could he hope for this? He is looking joyfully as frequently the doors of his house open to welcome the guests. People come from everywhere, even abroad. On the whole, the museum’s guest book bears commentaries by visitors from 18 different countries.

Sometimes there are several tours a day. They are held by the person who might have known Mykolaichuk the best and loved him the most: his sister Frozyna Hrytsiuk. She is already 80, but this petite tender woman has so much energy, warmth and good will! You start admiring her immediately when she starts to speak about her brother.

She opens the wooden doors to the house: there are two horse-shoes hanging next to it, to bring happiness and to protect the house. There is a small corridor and two rooms, to the left and to the right. The walls are densely covered with photos. Mykolaichuk’s portraits are like icons hanging next to their religious peers. Photos feature scenes from the films, work episodes; Ivan with friends, family, his wife Marichka; relaxing, at film festivals, in theater plays. There are also posters of Mykolaichuk’s films. Everything in the house is preserved as it used to be. There is kitchenware on the stove, fluffy blankets and home-made mats on the benches. On the handmade wooden shelves painted in blue there are simple family utensils: painted plates, cups, a clock — brought by Mykolaichuk for his sister from Georgia. On the floor, not far from the stove lies a unique item: Mykolaichuk’s cradle. And on the bench nearby there is an object of now less value: a self-portrait by Serhii Parajanov. It is hard to overestimate the value of one more item, Vasyl Stefanyk’s shirt, which the writer gave to Mykolaichuk as a souvenir.

Mykolaichuk brought photos from everywhere – from shooting locations, trips and meetings. There were so many of them that he had to take special luggage. When asked by his family about them, he joked: “It is for the museum.” Did he foresee it? Now they are of use. One can trace the moments of the actor’s life and creative work with the help of this huge and valuable photo archive. The museum has an extremely democratic atmosphere. The visitors are allowed to do everything. One can sit on a bench (where Mykolaichuk liked to sit), touch anything and look everywhere. There are no bans, only the benevolence is radiated by the keeper and guide. This trait is common to all the Mykolaichuk family, hence the origins of Mykolaichuk’s character and temperament. The artist’s photos with movie scenes are given to the tourists as a souvenir. In other museums they would have been sold, but Frozyna would never think of it. In her opinion all visitors should have a photo of her handsome brother as a souvenir.

Frozyna is very glad to see guests who come to Chortoryia, but sometimes she wonders: How do they know about the house? She has especially remembered the delegation of children aged between 12 and 14 who came from some far place. She asked in surprise, what should I tell you about Mykolaichuk? You might not remember and know Mykolaichuk. One boy replied, “If we did not know, we would not have arrived.” What to say? One should rejoice at this knowledge.

“Ivan was a handsome boy too,” Frozyna explains, “He studied for four years in Chortoryia’s school, and went to the neighboring village Barbivtsi for the seventh year. He studied the eighth year in a gymnasium in the raion center, Vashkivtsi. His gymnasium teacher liked him very much. Later she collected everything about Ivan: his films, cutouts from newspapers and magazines. She made an album about his life and gave it to the museum as a present on the 60th anniversary of his birth.

“Why did he like the movies? He saw a movie for the first time at the age of 13. I remember him saying, ‘I have wanted to do many things as a child, but I could not and I did not have to, and thanks to the cinema everything I dreamed about has come true.’ In our remote village Ivan developed a feeling of patriotism and kept it through his entire life — he cared about all things Ukrainian. His greatest dream was to make the world know about Bukovyna and Ukraine. And he did everything possible for this. Proof of this is the fact that A White Bird with a Black Mark is among world’s 10 best films. Ivan loved his native village very deeply. If he had problems, if anything went bad, he left everything, came to Chortoryia and recovered here. On the whole, he came home frequently. Many films were shot here — Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, A White Bird…, An­nychka. Ivan engaged us also in his films. I remember, when he wrote the script for A White Bird…, he gathered all of his family in the house: his brothers Dmytro and Kost were also present. He invited us to have a seat and read this script aloud. Incidentally, I had many remarks and told him about them. Ivan always consulted, listened carefully and did what he felt is best. He told us in respect: ‘You are my first and dearest audience.’

“You know, at first father did not treat Ivan’s profession seriously. But he later went to Chernivtsi to see the play Land in a theater with Ivan performing, and afterwards he said: ‘I’m a strong man. But even I creid when I watched it, then I understood what being an actor means.’ When father died, Ivan was shooting Annychka. He got a telegram and came in two days. Later he said that he remembered the state of pain at the funeral forever and used it in one scene of the film.

“When Ivan got acquainted with Marichka, he came to me. He said that he would bring a girl, he asked whether I liked her. I told him that she was beautiful, young and shy. Then we introduced her ro our Mom, and mother liked her as well. She sang beautifully. They had a nice family.

“These are embroidered portraits. Shevchenko, which sister Maria embroidered for Ivan when he played Kobzar. During his preparation for Ivan Franko’s role, she embroidered the Mason’s portrait for him. But Ivan never had time to play this role.

“He was ill for a long time. My son Mykhailo frequently went to Kyiv to see Ivan. The latter told him, ‘Be a man: don’t tell a word about me to grandmother and mother.’ And I did not understand anything and asked son, why Ivan did not come for so long. Later he told me how he visited Ivan not long before his death. Marichka was doing something in the kitchen, and Ivan said that he wanted to tell him what to do with what would be left after him. Mykhailo tried to stop him, he did not want to show that he knew his uncle was fading away. Ivan lowered his head and said, ‘You don’t want to listen to me.’ Now my son asks himself, why did he do so? What if I listened to him? In a short while we received a phone call: Ivan was dying. My husband Heorhii went there, entered the room, and Ivan asked him, ‘Yurko, where’s Frozyna?’ He could not believe it, he thought that we were somewhere nearby in the room, and never left him. He wanted to see us so much. He was very exhausted by the disease, he had even dried out. My husband helped to put him on the stretcher. He remembered Ivan’s last look for his whole life.

“Ivan’s friends often came here, to Chortoryia and said that they missed Ivan, his presence, his talent, and his cinema very much. But they complained that they had to bear this cross. I asked them, whether the cross was heavy. They replied that it was heavy because he was not there to support them. He would better be alive and do everything himself in the kind and talented manner he was capable of.

“Ivan’s was not a simple destiny, but it was a lucky one. He lived a short life, but he managed to achieve a lot, he left a lot after himself. He would always repeat: ‘Long life is not the main thing. Most important is what useful things you manage to do while you’re alive.’”

Frozyna can talk about Mykolaichuk endessly. As she recalls, she seems to come back to her young years, when everyone was alive and the museum’s small world seemed to grow, as it was inspired by the mighty energy of the artist who will for ever remain the creator and bard of poetic cinema.

When parting Frozyna confessed that she had a dream which she is going to put to life. She wants to build a small movie theater near the house-museum, where the guests and everyone willing could watch Mykolaichuk’s films. This would remind some of what they already know, whereas the young generation would see these films for the first time and learn about the brightest artist of Ukrainian cinema, and at the same time about his fellow, equally-talented actors. It would be interesting, and the chain of cultural heritage would not be broken. The idea is good and needed. I would like not only the Mykolaichuk family to be involved in its implementation, but the state as well. Then the road to Ivan would be percieved as a kind of spiritual path for Ukrainians to themselves.

“The Day” Weekly

Now “Gay Ukraine International”, as they proudly call their project, became more multi medial. Additionally to scandalous news, bizarre articles, and exposing dossiers surfer will find documental gay movies like “Gay-Sex in 70’s”, gay online TV and video of the day. Even the posts have become interactive. Many of the articles including videos from the place where the event took place or the disaster happened.

Introducing the life of Ukrainian gay community to the rest of the world since 1991 the project of “Gay Ukraine International” continues to publish breaking news about gay life in Ukraine. For instance these days it has exposed (or better to say “has outed”) the notorious homophobic deputy of Kharkov City Council Maxim Museiev, published the deputy private photos having gay sex with other gay men on the beach.

Another topic that usually is observed by “Gay Ukraine International” is homophobic violence and terror against gay men spread widely in our country. These days the article about capital gay guy who was visiting Crimea was published on line. The story tells us that Kiev gay guy wanted to find gay sexual partners in Simferopol – the capital of Crimean Autonomic Republic. Instead of new impressions the lucky guy met two older criminals. They were just released from the prison – he proposed them to make love, as he is bottom and they looked very masculine. The end of the story is not any fun – the guy was robbed and beaten.

Anyhow it is not only hot news and fresh explosions but the staff of “Gay Ukraine International” likes to bring the reviews to the public in order to develop discussion among its readers. Last hot subject for discussion was:
– According the results of newest public opinion poll, 72 percents of Ukrainian population hate gay men and only 3 percent of Ukrainians aren’t ill of homophobia
We will prepare short resumes of the news from “Gay Ukraine International” on regular basis. Our short resumes are mentioned for English-speaking surfers who don’t speak Russian. Those who can read original articles on National LGBTQ-Server of the Ukraine are welcome – the site of “Gay Ukraine International” can be found at www.GayUkraine.com