Crushing LGBTQIA human rights in Russia.
In Russia, the lower house of parliament passed a new law banning gender affirmation surgery. The State Duma approved this bill that also bans people from changing their genders on state documents. It now needs the approval of the upper house, and of the country’s President Vladimir Putin, seen as mere formalities.
As reported by BBC News, the speaker of the Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, posted via Telegram that the bill would “protect our citizens and our children”, particularly considering that Volodin sees gender affirming surgery as a “path to the degeneration of the nation”.
This bill specifically: bans individuals who have undergone gender changes from adopting children, and annulling marriages where one party had undergone gender reassignment.
In Russia, approximately 2,990 people legally changed gender between 2016 and 2022.
Russia already has an anti-LGBT propaganda law that outlawed any public expression or portrayal of LGBTQIA culture in public spaces, with violators fined up to 400,000 roubles (£5,400) and organizations 5m roubles (£68,500) for “propagandizing non-traditional sexual relations”.
