Russian lower house gives final approval to anti-LGBTQ bill
MOSCOW — Russian lawmakers Thursday gave their final approval to a bill that significantly expands restrictions on activities seen as promoting gay rights in the country, another step in a years-long crackdown on the country’s embattled LGBTQ community.
The new bill expands a ban on what authorities call “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” to minors. The original measure, dubbed the “gay propaganda” law, was adopted by the Kremlin in 2013 in an effort to promote “traditional values” in Russia.
This year, the lawmakers moved to ban spreading such information to people 18 and older.
The bill was approved in the third and final reading Thursday by the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. It will go next to the upper house, the Federation Council, and then to President Vladimir Putin, whose signature will give it legal force.
Life for LGBTQ people in Ukraine had been improving, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has systematically attacked gay and transgender people.
The new bill outlaws all advertising, media and online resources, books, films and theater productions deemed to contain such “propaganda,” a concept loosely defined in the bill. The 2013 ban was often invoked against any depictions of same-sex unions and used as a tool to crack down on LGBTQ rights groups and activists.
Violations are punishable by fines. If committed by nonresidents, they can lead to their expulsion from Russia. The fines range from 100,000 to 2 million rubles ($1,660 to $33,000). For some violations, foreigners could face 15 days’ detention prior to expulsion.
The bill does not make violations a criminal offense. Russian law stipulates that the criminal code can be amended only through an independent bill. Some lawmakers have suggested they favor such a measure.
Russia explicitly outlawed same-sex marriage in 2020 by adopting amendments to the country’s Constitution that, among other things, stipulated that the “institution of marriage is a union between a man and a woman.”
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