The directive comes as a crackdown on the rights of the LGBTQI+ community, which President Vladimir Putin invokes to show the moral decay of Western countries from which Russia must be protected
Russian clinics will soon be staffed with sexologists to help patients to “overcome” homosexuality and various sexual “mental disorders”, he refers to a health ministry directive, in a latest Kremlin attack on what he calls “non-traditional lifestyles”.
The directive, which will come into effect on July 1, comes as a crackdown on the rights of the LGBTQI+ community, which President Vladimir Putin has invoked to show the moral decline of Western countries from which Russia must be protected.
“The help of such experts is necessary if the person wants to be cured of sexual coldness, impotence or sexual behavior disorders such as fetishism, masochism and sadism,” the official newspaper of the Russian parliament says.
According to the order signed by Putin, specialists will also help patients deal with “non-standard preferences, such as autoeroticism, homosexuality, horse riding.”
The World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1990. Russia did the same in 1999. Last December, however, Putin signed a law expanding restrictions on the promotion of what he calls “LGBTQ+ propaganda,” banning virtually any public expression of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender behavior or lifestyle in Russia.
Authorities have already used this and earlier laws to stop gay pride marches and arrest gay rights activists.
This week, a regional court fined the director of the LGBTI+ support group Vykhod (Exit) 150,000 rubles ($1,725) because the group did not identify itself in a social media post as a “foreign agent” as required by new law, Novaya Gazeta.Europe newspaper reported
In a similar vein, an online movie service was fined 3.7 million rubles ($42,295) today for not providing a warning about the LGBTQI+ content of the movies it showed. Earlier this month, the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, passed a first reading of a bill banning surgery on transgender people.
According to the new Health Ministry directive, medical staff will help married couples “achieve sexual harmony” and advise parents on how to educate their children by talking to them about sex, the newspaper of the Russian Parliament writes.
Source :Skai
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