Ruslan Stefanchuk — homophobic?

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk 23 September explained why the preparers of amendments to the Family Code did not provide for the possibility of officially registering same-sex marriages. According to Stefanchuk, the obstacle is allegedly Article 51 of the Constitution, and it is impossible to amend the Basic Law during martial law.

Ruslan Stefanchuk noted that while working on updating family legislation the issue of partnership was discussed separately. Representatives of the LGBTQ+ community, he said, raised the question of giving same-sex couples the very status of marriage. “The only question that honestly arose for us was about partnership. About granting the status of marriage. Standing in the way of that is Article 51 of the Constitution,” Ruslan Stefanchuk said. The chairman of the Verkhovna Rada reported that he personally discussed this issue with representatives of the LGBTQ+ community. According to him, during consultations it was proposed to simplify the corresponding provision, but, in his view, granting same-sex couples the status of marriage without changing the Constitution is impossible. Ruslan Stefanchuk referred to Article 51 of the Constitution, which defines marriage as based on the free consent of a woman and a man. It is this provision that the parliamentary chairman called a legal obstacle to introducing same-sex marriage under current legislation. A separate problem is the procedure for amending the Constitution. Ruslan Stefanchuk emphasized that during martial law the Basic Law cannot be changed. Because of this, he said, the question of constitutional regulation of same-sex marriages is currently outside the scope of work on the Family Code. “You cannot change the Constitution during martial law. But that should be a separate story,” Ruslan Stefanchuk said. Thus, the parliamentary discussion about same-sex couples during the preparation of amendments to family legislation concerned not only the legal status of partnership but also the possibility of granting such couples the status of marriage. According to Stefanchuk, the latter question runs up against the current constitutional provision. At the same time, Ruslan Stefanchuk reported another change that the authors of the draft new Civil Code plan to enshrine in legislation. It concerns employees’ right to so-called “informational silence.” According to the chairman of parliament, this provision envisages the possibility of not receiving work calls and messages on days off and outside working hours. The developers proposed including the corresponding provision in the new Civil Code. Ruslan Stefanchuk’s statement came against the backdrop of case law that has already created a separate legal precedent regarding a same-sex couple. The Supreme Court earlier left in force a decision establishing de facto marital relations between Zoryan Kis and Tymur Levchuk. Zoryan Kis is first secretary of the embassy in Israel, and Tymur Levchuk is a public activist. The courts established the fact of their living together as one family and of de facto marital relations without official marriage registration. The case arose after Zoryan Kis, due to working abroad, faced the question of his partner’s legal status. Earlier the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not recognize Levchuk as a family member for the relevant legal procedures, because current legislation defines marriage as a union of a woman and a man. In 2026 year the Supreme Court left the lower courts’ decision in force. The court did not register a marriage between two men but confirmed the possibility of establishing de facto marital relations in this particular case. The Supreme Court’s decision became a separate line of development in judicial practice against the backdrop of the legislative discussion about civil partnerships. At the same time, it did not change the constitutional definition of marriage and did not introduce in Ukraine a procedure for state registration of same-sex marriages. Commenting on the preparation of new family legislation, Ruslan Stefanchuk effectively separated two questions: the possibility of introducing partnership and changing the legal status of marriage. According to him, the second question requires a separate constitutional regulation. For now Article 51 of the Constitution remains in force, and martial law makes it impossible to introduce the corresponding changes to the Basic Law. Therefore, according to Ruslan Stefanchuk’s explanation, at the current stage of preparing new family legislation same-sex couples are not being given the status of marriage. At the same time, judicial practice continues to consider individual cases related to de facto family relations of same-sex couples. The decision in the case of Zoryan Kis and Tymur Levchuk demonstrates that establishing the fact of cohabitation and de facto marital relations can occur through the courts, but it does not mean the automatic legalization of same-sex marriages.

Ruslan Stefanchuk said that the question of changing the constitutional provision could be the subject of a separate discussion after the restrictions related to martial law have ended. Within the current work on family legislation, he said, there is no possibility of granting same-sex couples the status of marriage.