How first same-sex marriage was registered in Ukraine. Rubryka found out

Photo seventeen.com

Viktoriia Hubareva

Olesia Solomina is a Ukrainian activist and entrepreneur, bringing up two children whom she and her ex-husband gave birth to using a surrogate mother. In her blog, Olesia writes that from childhood, she didn't care what gender the person she loved was. Now Olesia lives with her partner, Ada Shvets, and after talking with her, it's apparent that she'd like to formalize their relationship. What for? To be able to visit a loved one in a hospital, where only relatives are allowed, for instance, or to legalize property relations. All these issues are easy for heterosexual couples to settle if they get married, but same-sex marriage is prohibited in Ukraine. Even if a same-sex couple decides to legalize their relationship abroad, such a marriage won't be considered legitimate in Ukraine.

In many countries where same-sex marriage is prohibited, there's an institution of civil partnership. It's a civil union, a concept that should be distinguished from "just cohabitation" since the legal relationship between partners is regulated by law. The mechanism of a civil partnership is used in countries where the divorce process is complicated, where same-sex marriage and polyamorous families are prohibited. For example, in Iceland and Greenland, such a partnership is legalized, but same-sex marriage is not allowed, on the other hand, in Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden, the institution of the civil partnership was a transitional period to allow same-sex marriage. There, the civil partnership was allowed at the legislative level.