Ukraine Appoints Homosexual Deputy Minister of Culture — Meets Dumenko on First Day

KYIV — On September 25, 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed Ivan Verbytsky as the new Deputy Minister of Culture. UOJ-Ukraine (SPZh) reports that the appointment was confirmed by an order signed by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko. 

Verbytsky, a long-time LGBT activist who publicly came out in 2019, has been active in promoting his views. According to acting Minister of Culture Tetyana Berezhna, his new portfolio includes oversight of cultural heritage objects such as church buildings, iconostases, icons, and liturgical items.

On his very first working day, Verbytsky announced on Facebook that he held a meeting with the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Metropolitan Epiphanius (Serhii Dumenko).

“I felt great joy beginning my first full working day with a meeting with His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphanius. It was important for me to hear what issues concern the Church in the area of heritage and monuments, and to assure him of my intention to have good, cooperative relations with religious organizations,” Verbytsky wrote.

He claimed that “the majority of Ukrainians identify with the OCU,” explaining that this was why he chose to begin direct dialogue with this structure. This contradicts the governments most recently published data, which places the canonical UOC as the largest religious organization in the country — both in terms of parishes and individual association.

“Churches have been important community centers and today are also monuments. Icons hold a significant place in the fine arts, and many traditions intertwine with religious rituals. The Church was and remains an institution playing an important role in society,” Verbytsky stated, stressing that the state’s duty to preserve church buildings “does not contradict their use by religious organizations for their original purpose.”

Verbytsky thanked Epiphanius for the meeting but did not publish any photos together. The OCU itself did not report on the encounter.

Earlier, UOJ (SPZh) reported that for the first time in Ukraine an appellate court legally recognized the marriage of two men.

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