Public LGBTI-organization "Insight" has filed a lawsuit against the honorary patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and former head of the UOC Kiev Patriarchate Filaret (Denysenko) for his statement that the coronavirus could be influenced by same-sex marriage.

A claim for the protection of honor and dignity was filed with the Shevchenko District Court of Kyiv. The organization calls for Filaret to apologize and refute his words. "For us, as for many members of the LGBTI community, this is not a matter of money, but a matter of honor and dignity," said representatives of the Insight.

What happened?

On March 22, at 4esno with Tasha Trofimova, Filaret stated that one of the main causes of the coronavirus pandemic is same-sex marriage. "An epidemic is God's punishment for the sins of men [...]. But the cause of the coronavirus is the sinfulness of mankind. What is the peculiarity of sin? The good is not openly defended, but defended, and not only defended, but propagated. I mean, first of all, same-sex marriage, ”the patriarch declared.

In Insight, the patriarch's statement was viewed as discrimination and incitement to violence against the LGBT community. The organization threatened a lawsuit , and the legal department of the Kyiv Patriarchate said it reserves the right to a counterclaim. The church believes that the claim from Insight is an encroachment on public morality in Ukraine and Christian values. Read more via The Babel