Saturday Diary: To live with pride and stay alive; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/18/16

Olena Goncharova, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Saturday Diary: To live with pride and stay alive:

"When it comes to freedom of speech and other constitutional rights, Americans often take them for granted.

While in the summer of 2015 the American LGBTQ community celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legally recognize same-sex marriage, thousands of miles away a group of violent homophobes attacked a peaceful march of 200 gay activists in Kiev, Ukraine.

When I tell people about that here in the United States, they seem not to believe it. But homophobia is real and raw in Ukraine, and every pride parade we have is a test of Ukrainian tolerance and police protection...

I personally know Mr. Skoropadsky and some members of Right Sector. Aside from their hatred of gays, they are decent people who consider themselves patriots. But don’t try to persuade them that LGBTQ equality should be accepted by Ukraine. They are not happy that the country is adopting gay-friendly policies to improve its chances of joining the European Union as an associate member.

Among those policies has been outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity at work places – which, by the way, is still allowed in most U.S. states, including Pennsylvania. This gives hope to LGBTQ people in Ukraine and allows more of them to feel they no longer must hide who they are."