Despite the fact that homosexuality was decriminalized in Ukraine more than 20 years ago, the public opinion in the country is dominated by negative attitudes towards gay people. That is predetermined by a strong influence of the conservative traditions and forceful restrictions of the Orthodox Church.
Ukraine practices a policy of double standards in the internal and foreign policy spheres. Supporting Western initiatives to combat homophobia and discrimination on the international level, the government is totally ignoring such problems within the country.
The lack of knowledge about homosexuality prevents tolerance towards LGBT in the Ukrainian society. Thus, gay people are more accepted by younger generation and educated persons, who are more open-minded and supportive of equal rights. Urban dwellers are more democratic in their attitudes towards gays and lesbians, while people from villages are more conservative. The most common manifestations of homophobia are prejudice, verbal abuse and psychological pressure. To avoid such negative experience, gay people in Ukraine try not to expose themselves too much in the public places.
LGBT becomes more and more open in Ukraine, raising a lot public discussion. There are a lot of gay people on TV, in show-business, fashion, and other relative domains. However, they prefer not to unveil their sexual orientation, being afraid to lose affection of the public and destroy their career.
During the recent years several attempts were made to organize peaceful demonstrations by LGBT groups, but those attempts were either banned by local authorities or attacked by radical groups like nationalists or skin head. Yet, for the first time in the national history, the International Forum-Festival «KyivPride2012» will be organized to take place in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv in May 19-21, 2012.
http://www.lgbtua.com/pride/en/ 
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