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  6.  » Russia passes law banning ‘LGBT propaganda’ among adults

Sjotr Sauer – The Guardian Nov 24, 2022

Russia’s parliament has passed the third and final reading of a law banning “LGBT propaganda” among all adults, as Moscow ramps up its conservative push at home amid the war in Ukraine that passed the nine-month mark on Thursday.

The bill criminalises any act regarded as an attempt to promote what Russia calls “non-traditional sexual relations” – in film, online, advertising or in public – and expands on a notorious 2013 law that banned “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” among minors and was used to detain gay rights activists.

Under the new law, individuals can be fined up to 400,000 roubles (£5,400) and organisations 5m roubles (£68,500) for “propagandising nontraditional sexual relations”, while foreigners could face up to 15 days’ arrest and expulsion from Russia.

Human rights groups and LGBTQ+ activists say the extension of the law means any act or public mention of same-sex relationships is functionally being outlawed.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is expected to sign the bill in the coming days.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin has launched a fresh effort to promote “traditional values”, with the Russian leader making anti-gay rhetoric one of the cornerstones of his political agenda.

In a recent speech, Putin accused the west of “moving towards open satanism”, citing the promotion of gay and transgender rights in Europe as an example.

Alexander Khinshtein, a senior lawmaker and one of the bill’s designers, said the war in Ukraine had given the proposed anti-LGBTQ+ law “new relevance”.

“The special military operation takes place not only on the battlefield but also in the minds and souls of people,” Khinshtein said, referring to the conflict in Ukraine.

Introducing children to the idea of same sex couples while they are still too young to understand the implications. In plain language that’s indoctrination

In an earlier discussion of the bill, Khinshtein targeted the popular children’s cartoon Peppa Pig, after a lesbian couple joined its cast of characters in an episode titled Families.

Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox church and a close ally of Putin, also backed the new law. In an earlier sermon, Kirill bizarrely blamed the country’s invasion of Ukraine on gay pride parades.

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