Center for European Studies

3312 Turlington Hall

Maryna Shevtsova
CES visiting Fulbright Scholar

Against the backdrop of the conflict with Russia and growing approximation with the EU, some positive developments, such as changes in legislation and peaceful Equality marches, took place in Ukraine. The talk will focus on the role that the European Union’s conditionality politics played in these transformations and questions their sustainability. Throughout the years 2011-2016, the topic of homosexuality has been instrumentalized and incorporated into geopolitical conflict between the East (Russia and “traditional” family values) and the West (the EU and homosexuality/same-sex marriages) in Ukraine. Such instrumentalization found clear reflection in the discursive as well as in political practices surrounding situation with LGBT rights in the country as the homophobic rhetoric in the parliament has been replaced by some pro-LGBT actions. Still I argue that the failure of the European Union to grasp and adequately address the political conflict in the country led to the unexpected backlash against LGBT community in 2013-2014. While the changes in the power balance gave the European Union new leverage and created new opportunities for promotion of LGBT rights un Ukraine later on, inability to adjust existing strategies and instruments to the domestic context blocks further positive developments in this area.