The state of LGBTQI+ rights in Ukraine in 2025: an analytical monitoring report
Insight NGO presents the results of monitoring violations of the rights of LGBTQI+ people in Ukraine in 2025. The study is part of a large-scale international data collection carried out by the Eastern Coalition for LGBTQI+ Equality, which, in addition to Ukraine, brings together organisations from Moldova, Georgia and Armenia.
In Ukraine, cases were collected, documented and verified directly by two human rights organisations — Insight NGO and Gay Alliance Ukraine. Human rights defenders recorded cases in two ways: through direct requests for legal and psychological help from people affected, and by monitoring public reports in the media and on social networks.
In total, the joint monitoring recorded and analysed in detail 52 cases of violations of the rights of LGBTQI+ people.
The report pays particular attention to the critical situation in the territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation (Crimea in particular). The violations recorded in Sevastopol and Simferopol, cities de facto controlled by Russia, point to systematic repression and fines imposed under Russia’s homophobic “propaganda” legislation. At the same time, human rights defenders stress that, because the community under occupation is extremely closed and people’s lives are in real danger, the analysis of crimes in these territories requires separate, dedicated research.
Why is this monitoring important?
The authors of the report note from the outset that the data cannot be considered statistically representative. Because of the limited resources of the human rights sector, the high latency of such crimes, survivors’ fear of exposure and the systemic problem of low trust in law enforcement, a huge number of violations remain “in the shadows”.
Nevertheless, even this documented body of information is extremely valuable. It makes it possible to trace general trends clearly, to identify the key markers of vulnerability that queer people face during the war, and to give the state and international institutions a factual basis for advocating legislative change (in particular, the introduction of civil partnerships and the criminalisation of hate crimes).
The report is structured around a number of parameters that make it possible to see clearly the geography of the violations, the profiles of those affected and the nature of the discrimination or violence.