On Friday, the Russian Duma approved legislation that forbids people from altering their gender on official documents and outlaws gender reassignment surgery in the nation.
“We are the only European country that opposes all that is happening in the States, in Europe and does everything to save families and traditional values,” said Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, the BBC reported. “And we need to understand that there won’t be any future if we don’t adopt the law, if we don’t ban gender change.”
The measure will now move on to the Federal Council, the upper body of the legislature, where it will need President Vladimir Putin’s approval before becoming law, though both houses are likely to endorse it.
According to the Russian Interior Ministry, between 2016 and 2022, around 2,990 persons altered their gender. The nation is one of many in Eastern Europe that forbids same-sex marriage and is generally opposed to LGBTQ rights.
Public rallies in support of or against LGBT projects are already prohibited under Russian legislation.
Putin’s administration has positioned the Russian president as a defender of traditional national values by highlighting the differences between western and Moscow approaches to LGBT issues. Additionally, Putin has strong ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, which forbids same-sex unions and supports neither gender changes nor transgender people.
SOURCE: BBC
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