- Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed new legislation that significantly affects the LGBTQ+ community in Russia.
- The law, passed unanimously by both houses of Parliament, includes a comprehensive ban on sex change.
- Medical interventions aimed at changing a person’s sex and changing sex on official documents or public records are strictly prohibited.
- The new law allows medical intervention only to treat congenital anomalies.
- The law also affects marriage and family planning, voids marriages where one partner has changed gender, and prevents transgender persons from becoming foster or adoptive parents.
- The ban is rooted in the government’s pursuit of what they consider to be the nation’s “traditional values”.
- Lawmakers argue that the law is necessary to combat “anti-Western family ideology.
- The crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights in Russia has been ongoing for a decade, with a number of restrictive measures introduced over the years.
- The government’s stance on promoting “traditional family values” was supported by the Russian Orthodox Church.
- Various laws were enacted to suppress LGBTQ+ rights, including banning “non-traditional sexual relations” between minors and banning same-sex marriage.
