On April 14, the Pride March planned for April 22-23 was banned by the authorities of Sebastol. This is the first time in which the anti-proaganda law, signed by Vladimir Putin last June, has been imposed on the Crimean LGBT* community. Following the application of the law, Sebastopol authorities viewed the Pride March as an instance of promotion of “non-tradition sexual relationships”to minors and therefore banned it.

Since the beginning of the crisis, the Ukrainian government withdrew a bill which would have banned anti-gay discrimination in the workplace, only to reintroduce the same bill without sexual orientation as a protected ground.

A recent report by NASH MIR Center, a Ukrainian LGBT organization, reveals that homophobia, transphobia and violence against LGBT people are still widespread. Maxim Kornilov, a Ukrainian resident, said in an e-mail to NBC: “Before Russian occupation it was really complicated to be a gay in Ukraine, that’s why I’m still in a closet and feel trapped. Now it’s absolutely unbearable.”

Read more on pinknews.co.uk and lgbt-ep.eu.