Russian lawmakers approve bill against gender reassignment, ostracising LGBTQ+ community

The Russian lawmakers on Friday (July 14) voted in favour of new legislation that makes genderreassignment illegal. The bill was passed in the lower house of parliament, further strengthening Moscow's credentials as an ultra-conservative society.

Under the provisions of the law, any"medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person," as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records, will be prohibited. Meanwhile, those who have already changed their gender will be prohibited from adopting children and their marriages will be annulled.

"The State Duma banned gender reassignment in Russia. The relevant changes to the legislation, initiated by the Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin and deputies of all factions, were adopted in the final version unanimously," read a statement on the Duma's website.

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To become law, the bill has to be approved in the upper house of the parliament as well as by President Vladimir Putin. However, given the loyalty of most Kremlin lawmakers to Putin, it appears a mere formality that the bill will be passed without any major disruption.

Bill intended to protect Russian culture, family values: Lawmakers

The passing of the bill comes a little more than a month after the draft was introduced. According to senior Russian lawmaker Pyotr Tolstoy who introduced the draft,the legislation is intended to protect Russia'scultural, family values and traditions as well asstop the infiltration of the Western anti-family ideology.

The passing of the bill comes as a blow to the LGBTQ+ community in the country which has been under extreme duress, especially after the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Since the start of the offensive in Ukraine, Moscow has adopted a series of measures that aim to clamp down on pro-LGBTQ+ behaviour, considered deviant and Western-influenced.

Putin against LGBTQ+ community

President Putin has been staunchly against gender identity politics. On numerous instances, he has called out the gender equality advocates and resisted any change to the conservative society in Russia.

"(It is a) simply monstrous moment when children are pushed to believe from early on that a boy can easily become a girl, and vice versa,"Putin said during one of his addresses.

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"They are pushed to believe they have a choice, imposed while parents are swept aside. And a child is forced to make a decision that can break their life," he added.

The Russian president accused 'liberals' of teaching gender ideology to children without consulting psychologists, and called it a crime.

"No-one even consults child psychologists on whether a child of a certain age is able to make these kind of decisions. Calling a spade a spade, this is close to a crime against humanity dressed up in the name and under the flag of progress."

(With inputs from agencies)

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