Lawmakers in Ukraine on Thursday
approved a bill that bans workplace discrimination based on sexual
orientation.
The bill cleared the 450-seat
parliament with 234 votes.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
cheered passage, calling it “historic.”
Four previous attempts to approve the
measure had failed.
Only after stating that gay unions and marriages would never be allowed in Ukraine, did the measure finally pass.
According to the AP, the legislation is
part of a plan to win visa-free travel between Ukraine and the
European Union.
“Ukrainian authorities have sought to
forge closer ties with the EU amid a conflict with Russia, which
annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and supported pro-Russian
insurgents in eastern Ukraine,” the AP reported.
In 2012, lawmakers facing international
pressure tabled a proposed bill which sought to ban Ukrainians from
speaking favorably about gay men and lesbians. Many European
officials criticized the proposal, saying it would have a chilling
effect on freedom of speech.
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