Russia May Extend “Gay Propaganda” Ban To Adults

Reuters reports:

Russian lawmakers have proposed extending a ban on the promotion of “non-traditional” sexual relationships to minors to include adults as well, a senior legislator said on Monday. Russia’s existing “gay propaganda” law, passed in 2013, has been used to stop gay pride marches and detain gay rights activists.

Under the proposed changes, any event or act regarded as an attempt to promote homosexuality could incur a fine.

Parliamentary Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said last week that since Russia had quit the Council of Europe human rights watchdog after sending troops into Ukraine, it would now be able to ban the promotion of “non-traditional values”.

Radio Free Europe reports:



A committee chairman in the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, wrote on Telegram on July 11 that a 2013 law banning “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” among minors is “insufficient.”

“We propose to fully extend the ban on that sort of propaganda among audiences of all ages (offline, media outlets, the Internet, social media, as well as in cinema theaters),” Aleksandr Khinshtein wrote, adding that his committee proposes stricter punishment for violation of the law as well.

The current law, signed by President Vladimir Putin in 2013, has been widely criticized by human rights groups and LGBT community advocates.