Russian lawmakers on Monday proposed extending the ban on promoting sexual relations that Moscow considers “non-traditional” to include adults as well. The “gay propaganda” law has existed in Russia since 2013 under the pretext of protecting children. Under the proposed changes, any event or act deemed to be an attempt to promote homosexuality could be fined.
The legislation has been used to stop LGBTQIA+ pride marches and detain sexual minority rights activists.
Authorities say they are defending morals in the face of what they argue are liberal non-Russian values ​​promoted by the West, but according to human rights activists the law is widely applied to intimidate Russia’s LGBT community.
“We propose to extend the general ban on such advertising irrespective of the age of the audience (offline, in the media, on the internet, social networks and online cinemas),” the head of the Parliament’s information committee Alexander Khinshtein said on his media channel. social Telegram.
As Russia left the European Council’s human rights watchdog after invading Ukraine, it will now be able to ban the promotion of “non-traditional values”, Parliament Speaker Vicheslav Volodin said last week.
“Demands to legalize same-sex marriage in Russia are a thing of the past,” he said. “Attempts to impose alien values ​​on our society have failed.”
Homosexuality was a criminal offense in Russia until 1993 and was classified as a mental illness until 1999.
President Vladimir Putin has aligned himself closely with the Orthodox Church — which rejects same-sex relationships — and has made its social conservatism part of a narrative of Russian political and cultural revival that is now also being used to help justify the invasion of Russia. Ukraine.
A new constitution enacted in 2020 responsible for extending presidential term limits also defines marriage exclusively as the union of a man and a woman.
In this year’s ranking of Europe’s most LGBT-friendly nations, the “Rainbow Europe” index, Russia came in third from last.
