This is an extended version of a report I filed for The Stranger in May.
What would have been Ukraine’s first-ever gay pride parade, an event to show that Ukraine was moving toward tolerance and ready to protect the rights of its sexual minorities, was cancelled at the last second on Sunday when a group of right-wing counter-protesters threatened to turn the celebration of diversity into a violent fiasco.
The timing of the event was deliberate. With the Euro 2012 games less than a month away, gay rights activists figured the government wouldn’t want to cause yet another diplomatic row with the EU on the eve of Ukraine’s big debut on the international sports stage by refusing permission to hold the parade.
On that point, they were right—mostly.
