Anti-gay bill sparks outcry in Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine -- If a group of Ukrainian lawmakers succeeds in its mission, TV shows and movies sympathetically portraying homosexuals, such as "Brokeback Mountain," will be banned. So will gay pride parades.

The recently introduced bill, supported by the president's representative in parliament, would impose prison terms of up to five years and unspecified fines for spreading "propaganda of homosexuality" -- defined as positive public depiction of gays in public.

It has sparked an outcry from rights organizations in Ukraine and beyond, who condemn the bill as a throwback to Soviet times when homosexuality was a criminal offense. They also warn that harassing the gay community could lead to a spike in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Ukraine, one of Europe's most severe, by driving gays further underground.

Although homosexuality was decriminalized in Ukraine and neighboring Russia after the fall of communism, animosity toward gays remains high across the former Soviet sphere.

St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city and regarded as one of the country's most sophisticated, passed a law this year mandating fines of up to $33,000 for promoting homosexuality among minors. A gay pride parade in the Georgian capital ended in a scuffle with opponents in March.

The Ukrainian bill follows organizers' decision to cancel the country's first gay-pride parade in May, which they made after hearing that hundreds of potentially violent opponents of gay rights had come to the capital.

Two Ukrainian gay rights activists have been brutally attacked in recent months.

The hostility toward homosexuals raises wider questions about tolerance in Ukraine and whether the country is truly capable of embracing Western values as it strives to join the European Union. In the run-up to last month's European football championship, co-host Ukraine was rocked by allegations of racism, as fans at one stadium performed monkey chants directed at black players.