lgbtq rights movement as an attack on the nations catholic traditions and as a force that threatens to corrupt the youth echoing the rhetoric behind the russian and hungarian laws but polish society as a whole has grown more accepting of lgbtq people emson said the kyivpride organizers had considered holding their event in other european capitals but decided that warsaws young and energetic rights movement was a better fit lgbtq people in ukraine still face considerable discrimination but they have made strides in recent years as the country has sought to tie its fate to the west the evolution of lgbt rights is underlined by kyivprides own evolution since it was founded 10 years ago in 2012 it was so heavily outnumbered by angry counterprotesters that participants didnt dare march participants have been beaten and a large police presence is needed to protect them yet the event has continued to grow with 7000 participating last year president volodymyr zelenskyy whose courageous wartime leadership has gained attention in recent months won the respect of lgbtq people in ukraine when a man wearing a cross and spouting homophobic rhetoric heckled him at a news conference in 2019 zelenskyy shot back with anger leave those people alone for gods sake since then however his party has also taken steps that lgbtq rights activists view as a threat to their struggle