A top MP behind the initiative says its goal is to make sure children are raised in normal families. Russian lawmakers have prepared a bill that would ban the adoption of children by citizens of countries where sex change is allowed.

The measure is justified because there’s no way to guarantee that a foster child won’t end up in a gay family if one of the parents decides to transition to another sex, Vasily Piskarev, the head of the Russian State Duma’s Committee on Security and Countering Corruption, said on Monday. Adoption by same-sex couples has been outlawed in Russia since 2013.

WE PUBLISH  STORIES  IGNORED BY WESTERN MEDIA

‘The new bill proposes to prohibit the adoption of a child by foreign citizens in case their state allows gender reassignment, both by producing the appropriate identification papers or by using medical and other kinds of interventions,’ he explained.

Piskarev stressed that the draft law basically aims to ban adoption by those from the decadent NATO-member states ‘as most countries that allow… same-sex marriage are NATO countries.’

Russian lawmakers must make sure that a foster child ‘grows up and develops in a normal family where there’s a biological father and a mother,’ the MP, who represents the ruling United Russia Party, said.

In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning sex-change interventions. The administration of drugs and surgeries associated with gender reassignment therapy is now only permitted in Russia in cases that require treatment of reproductive organ deformities in children. Decisions on those procedures are made by clinics that have a special license from the Russian Health Ministry, according to the legislation.

WE WELCOME READERS’ COMMENTS ON OUR STORIES

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin defended the ban on sex changes, saying that it was introduced to protect the country from what he called the Western ‘transgender industry.’ Volodin mentioned the example of the US, where he said the number of gender reassignment surgeries had grown by 50 times over the past decade. ‘This is the path leading to the degradation of a nation,’ the speaker insisted.

According to data from the Russian Health Ministry, more than 2,000 people legally changed their sex in the country between 2018 and 2022 when the practice was still legal.

The Russian Justice Ministry said Friday it has filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court to label the ’international LGBT public movement’ as extremist and to outlaw its operations in the country.

In a statement posted on its website, the ministry argued that the LGBT movement has been engaged in various activities that qualify it as an extremist group. Specifically, it has been sowing social and religious discord, the ministry stated.

TO SUBSCRIBE CLICK ‘FOLLOW’ AND RECEIVE OUR STORIES DIRECT IN YOUR MAILBOX

It was not immediately clear exactly which groups the potential ban would affect and whether the extremist designation would have any consequences for LGBT ideology itself, becoming the basis to take action against various public organizations.

In Russia, the largest such public organization is the so-called Russian LGBT Network, a civic platform created in the mid-2000s, which brings together various regional groups advocating the rights of sexual minorities.

The network, which two years ago was labeled a foreign agent, is an internationally recognised entity and is a part of LIGA – the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association – a major Switzerland-based NGO promoting gay rights and active since the 1970s.

Over the past few years, Russia has gradually tightened its legislation aimed at curbing the spread of the LGBT ideology. 

In 2013, it outlawed LGBTQ propaganda’ deemed to be aimed at minors. The ban was reinforced last December, when legislation introducing hefty fines for anyone found guilty of promoting non-traditional sexual relations, pedophilia, and transgenderism, among minors and adults alike, was adopted. You can share this story on social media: