The State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, has approved a bill that bans gender reassignment procedures, including hormone therapy, and restricts the changing of genders on official documents.
The legislation, adopted unanimously in its third and final reading, has sparked concerns over the impact it will have on transgender individuals living in Russia.
Vyacheslav Volodin, Speaker of the Duma, described the bill as an effort to "protect our citizens and our children" and "save traditional family values". He further stated in a telegram post that gender-affirming surgery is a "path to the degeneration of the nation" and insisted on the necessity of this law to preserve the future of the nation.
“This decision protects our citizens, children. Just think about it: there have been 50 times more gender reassignment surgeries in the United States over the past 10 years. Transgender people according to 2022 data are 1.64 million, including 1.3 million adults (0.5% of the total adult population) and 340,000 teenagers (1.4% of all US children aged 13 between 17),” wrote Volodin on his Telegram channel.
The bill bans any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records. The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies.
In its second reading on Thursday, clauses were added that annul marriages in which one person has “changed gender” and bar transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents.
The law must be approved by the Federation Council and President Vladimir Putin before becoming legally binding, steps usually seen as formalities.
The move comes as a furtherance of last year's anti-LGBT "propaganda laws"which forbids any public expression or portrayal of LGBT culture in public spaces. Fines for "propagandising non-traditional sexual relations" can reach up to 400,000 roubles for individuals and 5 million roubles for organisations or businesses.
Since 2013, the Kremlin has been steadily adopting legislation that restricts LGBTQ rights, endorsing what it perceives as the country's "traditional values". In 2020, a constitutional reform was introduced that prohibited same-sex marriages. These legal maneuvers align with the Orthodox Church's conservative social outlook, marking a stronger alliance between the church and the state.
President Putin has previously stated that LGBT lifestyles are incompatible with traditional Russian values and has frequently voiced opposition against what he called “outright Satanism” with "various supposed genders".
Critics and advocates warn of the serious implications of the implementation of these laws despite the State Duma's unanimous support.
