Verkhovna Rada rejects bills on liability for LGBT criticism

13 members of the Law Enforcement Committee voted against draft laws to punish LGBT people. Photo: irs.in.ua

On June 17, 2020, 13 out of 20 members of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement Affairs voted to reject gender bills that criminalize pro-family actions and criticism of LGBT people. This was reported by the Institute of Religious Freedom.

According to the members of the Committee, bills No. 3316, 3316-2 and No. 3316-3 need substantial revision.

The Chairman of the Committee, Denis Monastyrsky, emphasized that they “received hundreds of appeals from absolutely all faiths”, for whom the proposed changes to the Criminal Code of Ukraine raise serious concerns. 58 Ukrainian MPs from different parliamentary factions asked the Committee to take into account the arguments of representatives of Churches and religious organizations.

During the discussion of draft laws, Deputy Chairman of the Committee Grigory Mamka noted that it is unacceptable to simultaneously indicate the motive of hatred in the qualifying features of certain articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and additionally – as an aggravating circumstance.

The author of one of these bills – draft law No. 3316-3 – also proposed to take into account the “sensitive character of the issue”, as well as the need to perfect these initiatives and reject all draft laws.

The final fate of these bills depends on the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which can either exclude gender bills from the agenda of this or the next session without consideration or reject them during consideration in the first reading.

In the spring of 2020, the UOC opposed criminal liability for pro-family actions.

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