A police officer speaks with a gay rights activist during a protesting picket at Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2015. Photo / Dmitry Lovetsky, AP, File
A police officer speaks with a gay rights activist during a protesting picket at Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2015. Photo / Dmitry Lovetsky, AP, File
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed new legislation, marking the final step in outlawing gender-affirming procedures, a crippling blow to Russia’s already embattled LGBTQ+ community.
The bill, approved unanimously by both houses of parliament, bans any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person”, as well as changingone’s gender in official documents and public records. The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on July 17, 2023. Photo / Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool via AP
It also annuls marriages where one person has “changed gender” and bars transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents.
The ban is said to stem from the Kremlin’s crusade to protect what it views as the country’s “traditional values”. Politicians say the legislation is to safeguard Russia against “Western anti-family ideology”, with some describing gender transitioning as “pure satanism”.
Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ people started a decade ago when Putin first proclaimed a focus on “traditional family values”, supported by the Russian Orthodox Church.
In 2013, the Kremlin adopted legislation that banned any public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors. In 2020, Putin pushed through constitutional reform that outlawed same-sex marriage, and last year signed a law banning “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” among adults as well.
