Those who have time do not wait for time. And for those who have lived the conflict in the first person for five months, never slowly seems to be more appropriate to fulfill a dream or strengthen a bond. And to facilitate it, martial law has also intervened which, since the outbreak of the war, has allowed them to get married in a very short time after eliminating the usual month of waiting foreseen before the war between the request and the celebration of the ceremony.
Thousands of couples have therefore decided to say yes, it is estimated that in the first month of the war alone there were more than 4000, in April they were 22,000 throughout the country. Many of these count at least one of the two spouses, if not both, employed on the conflict front. The last in chronological order is composed of Ivan and Vlada (the surname they prefer not to say for security reasons). The couple formed by the architect and the army medical consort interviewed by CNN told how he used his only day off to make the proposal to his girlfriend and that he then managed to return from the front just long enough to get married and then return to fight. “In fact, the marriage procedure has become simpler with martial law. It was easier to get married – she said ironically on US TV – than to reach Kiev ”.
“Now – adds the wedding officiant Oksana Poberezhets – we live in a very dangerous moment and perhaps people who were planning to wait a few days, or years to get married, have understood that in reality there is only today, here and Now”.
In addition to the elimination of the waiting month between the request and the celebration of the rite, martial law also provides for the possibility of getting married via Zoom from April. The author of this bold law is the Minister of Justice Valeria Kolomiets: “Given the circumstances, people can often wait. Whoever wants it can therefore get married in one day ”. In “special” cases it is also expected that military and police officers are also called to celebrate the ceremony and that soldiers employed at the front can marry remotely.
And again on the marriage front, there is great anticipation for a decision that could change the lives of thousands of people in Ukraine. In fact, within a few hours, President Zelensky should report on his decision regarding gay marriages.
On July 13, a petition in favor of the legalization of same-sex marriages was presented to the Ukrainian president. Nearly 29,000 signatures have been collected – enough to allow the Ukrainian president to consider the proposal. If this were to happen, Parliament would be called upon to consider a bill on the matter. However, it should be clarified that there is no obligation either for the president or for the parliament. The could therefore result in a stalemate. Otherwise, however, the recognition of egalitarian marriage would represent a step in civilization that appears even more important in a context in which civil rights are called into question by the brutality of war.