Servicemen rejecting medals from UOC-KP after it refused to award a gay
An award from the UOC-KP. Photo: Military LGBT+ TV channel
Five military personnel and volunteers have refused their awards from the UOC-KP in solidarity with the gay military member Viktor Pylypenko, from whom Filaret revoked the medal after learning about his sexual orientation, reports Zmina.
Military men Ilia Korotenko and Ivan Havrylko, as well as volunteers Pavlo Shatokhin, Natalia Solovyeva, and Olena Kolomiichuk, have all rejected the medal, the inadmissibility of discrimination against LGBT+ individuals and calling on other military personnel to do the same.
"We urge the authorities to finally implement the necessary bills to protect the community defending the state. After all, you can annul an award, but you can never annul freedom," the statement by LGBT+ activists says.
The human rights LGBT centre "Our World" recalled that Filaret was a bishop of the UOC from 1962 to 1992 and did not even deny that he collaborated with the Soviet KGB.
As reported, the UOC-KP revoked the award from the military member Viktor Pylypenko and accused him of lying after he claimed to have been awarded a medal by Filaret for belonging to the LGBT community.
Read also
Serbian Patriarch offers condolences over murder of Sviatohirsk Lavra monk
The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church called Sviatohirsk Lavra a refuge for the displaced and urged that the monk’s violent death not be turned into anyone’s weapon.
“Never seen before”: Israel reports record number of Hasidim in Uman
According to an Israeli police representative, 52,000 pilgrims are currently in Uman – 10,000 more than last year. The city itself has a population of about 75,000.
UOC faithful hold prayer vigil outside Lavra for more than 1,000 days
For three and a half years, Orthodox Christians have continued praying for peace and for the preservation of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
Zelensky congratulates Jews on Rosh Hashanah
Volodymyr Zelensky wished Jews peace and the triumph of good over evil.
Kyiv Theological Academy publishes book on Orthodoxy in 17th-century Ukraine
With the blessing of the UOC Primate, the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary has published a textbook marking the 430th anniversary of the birth of St. Petro Mohyla.