You're reading: Ukrainian gay couple marry in New York, plans to fight for equal rights at home

At first, it seemed like an ordinary wedding ceremony. But for Taras Karasiychuk and Mykola Maslov, who showed up on July 1 at a Manhattan marriage bureau of the City Clerk’s Office to register their marriage, 4,664 miles away from their homeland, their big day was like no other.

Dressed in yellow and blue suits – the national colors of Ukraine – Maslov and Karasiychuk gave their vows and cut their wedding cake, marking the most special day in their lives.

They are the first Ukrainian gay couple to get married in the United States, according to Karasiychuk.

Initially, they traveled from Kyiv to New York City to take part in a gay pride parade in Manhattan celebrating a U.S. Supreme Court ruling of June 28 that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in the United States. They also organized work meetings with the partnering organization RUSA LGBT, a Russian-speaking American LGBT group.

The parade, which brought at least 2 million people to the streets of New York, sharply contrasted with the gay rights demonstration held in Kyiv on June 6. Both Karasiychuk and Maslov attended that gathering of some 200 people in the city’s Obolon district, which was violently broken up by dozens of homophobic radicals who threw flares, fireworks and nail bombs.

“In New York pride is a holiday,” Maslov told the New York Times. “For us, it’s a trial.”

The U.S. wasn’t a random choice for the couple, as it’s one of the countries along with Canada, Argentina, Denmark and others where the marriage of non-residents is legal.

“However, New York is probably one of my most favorite cities,” Karasiychuk, 31, says. “We have many friends there and we’ve never felt like aliens.”

The сouple had been planning to get married since February, but didn’t want to make it public.

They met accidentally at a gay rights conference in Kyiv last summer. Maslov, 23, lived in Odesa and had traveled to Kyiv to take part in the conference. Later he moved to Kyiv and met with Karasiychuk again in November. “I saw him at a club then – and two days after the encounter we started dating,” Karasiychuk said.

In New York, the couple shared their wedding plans with colleagues from RUSA LGBT, who were willing to help them out.

“That’s how we ended up having an American-style wedding with vows, our first dance and a cake,” Karasiychuk says, adding that their families knew about their wedding plans, and supported the couple.

Although they are legally married in New York, back at home their marriage is considered more of a symbolic one, as Ukraine still doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages.

However, the event helped to boost their confidence, and Karasiychuk says they will keep fighting for equal rights in Ukraine.

“It was like a sign for me,” Karasiychuk told the Kyiv Post. “Marriage must be possible for all people and it is necessary to fight for it in our country. After all, our dignity and equal rights – like the majority (already) has – are worth suffering for.”

Karasiychuk, who heads Gay Alliance Ukraine rights group, which he helped found back in 2009, says he hopes Ukraine will become a more gay-friendly country, but he doesn’t think it will happen for at least seven or eight years.

“We plan to launch a long-term campaign aimed at making a right to marry accessible to all,” Karasiychuk says.

They believe things will work out for them in Ukraine where many still harbor prejudicial views of gays.

Olena Semenova, a gay activist and one of the organizers of Kyiv Pride, believes the LGBT community is now becoming mature enough to stand up for themselves as people who have dignity and rights.

“The activists have a chance to travel more and see the possibilities – if there’s no chance for them to marry (legally) in Ukraine – there’re other countries that make this happen,” Semenova explains. “Many of those young people have little inner homophobia – they know they have rights and (financial) possibilities to travel abroad and get married.”

Semenova said she was certain that Ukraine has to address those social issues, but said that it’s up to activists to keep pushing the envelope.

Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected].