Mykhailo Yurov is a Ukrainian LGBTQI+ advocate and project manager at KyivPride, one of Ukraine’s most visible organizations advocating for queer rights, public education, and civic equality. Since joining KyivPride in 2024, he has helped coordinate major public events, donor relations, organizational logistics, and advocacy campaigns during a period shaped by both war and political uncertainty. His work sits at the intersection of LGBTQ visibility, democratic resilience, and Ukraine’s broader struggle over identity, inclusion, and its European future.

In this interview, Mykhailo Yurov discusses the pressures facing LGBTQ Ukrainians during wartime, including unequal legal protections for same-sex couples and military families. He examines the influence of far-right groups, religious institutions, and Russian narratives on public discourse surrounding LGBTQ rights. The conversation also explores KyivPride’s annual events, stalled civil partnership legislation, hate-crime enforcement, and the broader question of how Ukraine’s democratic aspirations intersect with equality and civic inclusion.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: KyivPride has become one of the country’s most visible public platforms for LGBTQ advocacy. What events are planned for this year’s KyivPride Festival and March, and how are you working to build public engagement and anticipation around them?

Mykhailo Yurov: We plan to organize the KyivPride March on June 21 and the KyivPride Festival, called KyivPride Park, on June 14. June 14 is our annual educational event, which has been held for several years. It is an educational and charitable gathering where we organize lectures, panel discussions, and film screenings in partnership with film festivals. We also collaborate with Ukrainian brands that support LGBTQI communities, and some of the proceeds from their products are donated to selected charities.

On June 21, we will hold the KyivPride March. We will soon contact the police and the city administration. We hope that this year we will have more constructive communication with law enforcement, because in previous years we had to insist strongly on holding the march. For us, it is especially important for LGBTQI members of the military. They often do not have the same legal rights as other couples. For example, if a partner dies on the front lines, the surviving partner may not be legally recognized as a parent or next of kin. There are many legal disadvantages in Ukraine, and we are advocating for change. Our central point is that we must protect military personnel who are defending the country; we must fight for their rights as they fight for us.

Jacobsen: For people outside Ukraine who may be unfamiliar with the situation, which groups tend to target or harass KyivPride? And more broadly, how do you view the role that some religious or political institutions play in shaping resistance to LGBTQ equality?

Yurov: The groups involved are mainly extremist far-right organizations. Their leader has long been publicly linked to Russian influence. Some of these groups may receive support from Russia as part of efforts to destabilize the country internally. They often employ tactics similar to those used in Russian propaganda.

They manipulate the narrative. They claim that LGBT movements are connected to Russia, even though LGBT expression is heavily restricted in Russia. Because Russia is widely associated with a negative influence, they try to frame LGBT rights in that way.

Jacobsen: Some of these groups frame LGBTQ rights as a kind of foreign or “Russian” influence, despite Russia itself being deeply hostile toward LGBTQ people. Do you think this rhetoric is deliberately manipulative, or does it reflect a worldview that makes sense internally even if it collapses under closer examination?

Yurov: Exactly. It does not make sense. We communicate that clearly so people understand that it is manipulation.

Churches have a significant influence in Ukraine, although less so in Kyiv. You do not typically see clergy physically confronting LGBTQ people in the streets. Their influence is more indirect.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by KYIVPRIDE 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇺🇦 (@kyivpride)

Jacobsen: For international readers, terms like “monk” or “church workers” may carry very different associations. In the Ukrainian context, what role do clergy and religious institutions actually play in shaping public opinion and political debates around LGBTQ rights?

Yurov: I mean clergy or church, workers. In Ukrainian, they are often referred to as “fathers” or “priests”—people who serve in the church. They can be influential in shaping public narratives and, at times, in shaping legislative debates.

For example, about a month ago, the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, attempted to advance changes to the Civil Code of Ukraine. Many activists believe that conservative religious institutions influenced some of those proposals. Among the concerns raised were proposals that could allow marriage under exceptional circumstances for minors, such as pregnancy, and restrictions on divorce shortly after marriage. Many activists associate such proposals with conservative religious influence.

We believe churches can influence policy debates, even if their role is not always visible in public demonstrations.

Jacobsen: Are there any religious communities in Ukraine that openly support LGBTQ people, or is acceptance still largely confined to smaller and less institutionally influential groups?

Yurov: There are very few. Some smaller or alternative religious communities are more open, but they usually lack the legal authority to perform marriages recognized by the state. The dominant Orthodox churches in Ukraine tend to be strongly non-inclusive toward LGBTQ people. In some respects, parts of the Catholic Church are seen as more open, although that varies widely.

At the moment, there are no major Ukrainian churches that actively support LGBTQ equality. We hope to receive funding to engage in dialogue with religious communities. There are clergy in Ukraine who speak of acceptance and emphasize that religious teachings should be interpreted with compassion and love.

However, Ukraine does not yet have prominent religious leaders who openly advocate for LGBTQ rights. That is unfortunate because many Ukrainians are religious and want to reconcile their faith with their identity. Many people quietly ask whether there are churches that would accept them while allowing them to maintain their belief in God. Right now, there are very few places where they feel that acceptance.

If someone wanted to start an inclusive church, we would help them with everything they needed. At the moment, there are no officially recognized churches in Ukraine that perform same-sex marriages with equal legal recognition from the state.

Jacobsen: Outside the church system, does Ukraine currently offer any form of civil partnership or legal recognition for same-sex couples?

Yurov: The European Union encourages some form of legal recognition for same-sex couples.

Jacobsen: When support for LGBTQ rights is framed as part of a broader European project, is that sometimes viewed domestically as Western cultural pressure rather than as a question of equal citizenship?

Yurov: For some people, yes. As I mentioned earlier, there are different opinions. Some believe it is positive that the European Union supports these policies. Others view it more skeptically, seeing it as external pressure from Western Europe.

We often frame it differently. We argue that Ukraine is choosing a European path rather than a Russian one. That is one of the reasons that in 2025, the KyivPride March used the slogan “United in Diversity,” which reflects values associated with the European Union. Through that message, we showed our European partners that we are working toward the same principles.

Jacobsen: Given the legal and cultural limitations you’ve described, many LGBTQ Ukrainians who left during the war may now find greater legal recognition abroad. How significant is the challenge of persuading people to return to a country where their relationships still lack legal recognition?

Yurov: That is also a major issue for Ukraine. The country is seeking ways to encourage people who fled during the war to return home from European cities. For LGBTQ people, this is even more complicated. Many have built lives abroad, found partners, or entered relationships that are legally recognized in those countries. If their relationships are not recognized in Ukraine, many of them will not return. Legal recognition would bring some of those people back.

Jacobsen: What does it mean psychologically and practically to live in a society where you cannot legally marry the person you love, especially during wartime when questions of inheritance, parenthood, and next-of-kin status become matters of urgency?

Yurov: During wartime, the issue becomes especially urgent for military personnel. Even many heterosexual people in Ukraine have sometimes questioned whether marriage changes anything in everyday life. But in times of crisis, it becomes very clear that legal recognition matters—especially for issues such as inheritance, parental rights, and next-of-kin status.

We also do not currently have civil partnerships. One member of parliament, Inna Sovsun from the Holos party, introduced a bill proposing civil partnerships. However, the bill has remained stalled for several years. We hope it will eventually pass.

At the moment, it seems more likely that legislation addressing hate crimes will pass sooner, because that concept is easier for many parliamentarians to understand. Technically, hate crimes can already be prosecuted under Ukrainian law, but the wording is broad and does not explicitly list LGBTQ people. As a result, police rarely classify attacks against LGBTQ individuals as hate crimes, and most cases are treated simply as ordinary offences.

That is why we are pushing for changes to the law so that LGBTQI people are explicitly listed. Then attacks against them could be formally classified as hate crimes. If they are not classified as hate crimes, they are usually treated as hooliganism, which can result in only a small fine, something like 150 hryvnias. As a result, the punishment is minimal.

Jacobsen: Would you say religious institutions remain one of the central obstacles to LGBTQ equality in Ukraine today, even if that influence is often exercised indirectly through politics and public discourse rather than direct confrontation?

Yurov: Yes, but their influence is often indirect. In Kyiv, many people identify as religious but do not actively practice their faith. They may go to church once a year, often at Easter, to bring traditional foods such as eggs and bread to be blessed. In everyday life, religion is not central for many residents of the capital.

However, religious institutions still exert influence over political narratives and lobby members of parliament. They are active in shaping public discourse.

Another issue is that some churches historically had ties to the Moscow Patriarchate and therefore promoted narratives aligned with Russia. There have been cases in which journalists uncovered schools affiliated with religious institutions that taught Russian literature and ideological narratives. In one reported case, Russian-language materials such as the works of Sergei Yesenin were used in instruction.

This is controversial because Ukrainian law requires most school instruction to be conducted in Ukrainian, except for the teaching of foreign languages. For example, a Russian language class could be taught in Russian, but other subjects should be taught in Ukrainian.

Investigations revealed that some unofficial schools connected to religious communities were teaching a curriculum that emphasized the idea of the “Russian world.” Families with strongly pro-Russian views sometimes sent their children there, which raised concerns about cultural and political influence within Ukraine.

Jacobsen: Thank you very much for the opportunity and your time, Mykhailo.