Ukraine Seriously Needs Harvey Milk

It's been less than a week since a homophobic scandal surrounded Sir Elton John's visit to Ukraine and his humble attempt to adopt a 14-month-old HIV-positive orphan. And Ukraine has already had another outbreak of homophobia. Now it went much further than Minister Pavlenko's rambling statements about Elton John's Ukrainian adoption. Btw, it still remains a mystery whether Elton John's hubby meets the age requirements to adopt baby Lev or not. I also really wonder whether Minister Pavlenko has finally established whether baby Lev is orphan or not and whether baby Lev has HIV or not. Btw, will Minister Pavlenko make an official apology to Sir Elton John on behalf of the homophobic government? What about baby Lev? Will he just stay in the orphanage after all commotion?

Anyways, if an American gay activist Harvey Milk were alive today and somehow found himself in a downtown of Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, he would be unpleasantly surprised. He would see the anti-gay rally organized by Ukraine's NGO Love vs Homosexuality aka Love Contra. A very mixed crowd that ranged from teenage girls to grandmas protested against homosexuality in Ukraine. NGO Love Contra asked the government to reconsider a gay sex as a sex crime as it was in the Soviet Criminal Law. Protestors also carried posters with the following anti-gay statements: A Father Can Be Anybody, But a Father Can't Be a Mother; Mother + Father = Child; We Must Stop Homo-dictatorship! (Apparently, the Ukrainian democracy is over); You Aren't Born Gay, You Become Gay; Homosexuality = AIDS; Protect Your Motherland and Your Kids (I guess from gays).

You'll be surprised by a reaction of Svyatoslav Sheremet, a head of Ukraine's Gay Forum that is a leading gay rights organization in Ukraine. He says that NGO Love Contra made him a huge favor by getting together so many people and informing them about Ukraine's gay movement. I don't like Mr. Sheremet's position that must represent a view of the main gay activist of Ukraine. He still needs to learn a lot from his American role model. Why? One, a majority of Ukrainians is homophobic. Two, Ukrainians are homophobic because the whole "coming out of closet" thing is just very new to them. Common, people still have problems with getting used to a market economy and a democracy. The obvious question is: How are Ukrainians homophobic? Well, they'd rather accept you as Jewish friend than as gay friend. If you doubt my words, you can look up the public attitudes towards Jews and gays in Ukraine here. Anyways, the recent events clearly show social tensions between the gay community and general public. Though the Ukrainian politics is very far from making gay rights the main political issue, the gay problem must be addressed so that the Ukrainian society can get rid of the anachronistic fears of homosexuality and move on to celebrating Gay Pride Week or GLBT's October.

Sir Elton John is Not Old to Adopt Ukrainian Child

Minister Pavlenko changes his argument about Sir Elton John's adoption of a 14-month-old HIV-positive Ukrainian orphan. Now Mr. Pavlenko says that baby Lev (that's orphan's name) is not an orphan and nobody has confirmed a fact of his HIV-positive status yet. So it turns out that this kid has a mother and an older brother who still have parental rights over him. Moreover, it is not clear yet whether the kid has HIV or not.

Well, it's all very interesting except for one tiny detail that baby Lev resides in the orphanage for the HIV-positive kids. What's going on? Mr. Pavlenko says that social workers are working with the mother and they are trying to persuade her to start a new life and take back baby Lev.

Anyways, Minister Pavlenko gave up his argument about Elton John's age after the Ukrainian mass media pointed to him that John's partner David Furnish met the age rule for the child adoption. Now Mr. Pavlenko says that Sir Elton John still cannot adopt baby Lev because the poor boy has a biological parent who has a priority for his re-adoption. It's a real mess.

Finally, Mr. Pavlenko says that mass media violated a privacy of the kid and his family when his name and health status got exposed in the media outlets all over the world. Well, what can I say? Minister Pavlenko does not like the Pareto improvement.

Elton John, Too Old to Adopt a Child According to Ukrainian Law

Maria Danilova, Associated Press journalist, writes in today's The Washington Post that Elton John won't be able to adopt a 14-month-old HIV-positive child from Ukraine because the pop star is too old and isn't married. Family, Youth and Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko told the Associated Press that the adoption wouldn't happen because adoptive parents must be married and because the pop star was too old. Elton John is 62 and his life partner David Furnish is 47. But Ukraine's law requires a parent to be no more than 45 years older than an adopted child. Oh, common! Does it really make a difference whether a parent is 46 or 45 years older? Another problem with John & Furnish is that Ukraine does not recognize gays unions as marriages. In 2005 John & Furnish tied the knot in one of the first legalized civil unions in Britain. So what is good enough for England is not good enough for Ukraine, ha? Even John's Ukrainian connections did not help with the child adoption situation. His friend, Elena Franchuk, a founder of ANTI-AIDS charity, and her husband, the richest man in Ukraine, Viktor Pinchuk, could not do anything. Minister Pavlenko said that "Elton John would not be able to adopt a Ukrainian child anyways. The law is the same for everybody: for a president, for a minister, for Elton John". At least, it's good to know that no one is above Ukraine's law. But I wonder whether the child situation would have the same outcome if it were heterosexual couples such as Angelina Jolie with Brad Pitt or Madonna? Brad Pitt is 46 yo and Madonna is 51 yo. Dear Minister Pavlenko, what will be your decision in this case?