Photo LGBTQ EXCLUSIVE

7,000-strong LGBTQ+ rally calls for tougher hate crime laws (PHOTOS)

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People hold a "Kharkiv Pride" banner at the Kyiv Pride Equality March in Kyiv on Sept. 19, 2021.

An estimated 7,000 people attended the Kyiv Pride Equality March on Sept. 19 in central Kyiv.  LGBTQ+ community activists and allies called for more robust protection of LGBTQ+ rights in Ukraine.

While homosexuality has been legal in Ukraine since 1991, homophobic attacks, mostly committed by far-right groups, are still common.

The organizers of the march called for the implementation of an anti-discrimination bill, which would introduce harsher punishments for hate crimes.

Despite a counter-protest being held by approximately 50 anti-LGBTQ+ activists near the route of the pride march, there were no police reports of public order violations.

In August, a notable hate attack allegedly occurred when a State Security Service (SBU) official assaulted dancer Yevheny Honcharenko outside a gay nightclub in central Kyiv, causing him to be put into a coma.