Deputies of the Duma of the parliament of the Russian Federation prepared a bill banning legal or surgical gender changes. The text, presented Tuesday, prohibits “medical interventions aimed at changing a person’s gender.” This includes “the formation of primary and (or) secondary sexual characteristics of a person.” The project was approved by about four hundred deputies, led by the head of the Duma, Viatcheslav Volodin, the right-hand man of President Vladimir Putin. The text provides exceptions that allow such surgery in the case of “congenital anomalies” of the genital organs of children. However, the Duma statement also highlights that these exceptional medical operations will need to be approved at the government level. The Duma did not specify when the proposal would pass first reading, but some media outlets reported that it could begin tomorrow.
The crackdown on LGBTQ+ activists in particular has increased in recent years and has intensified recently to coincide with Moscow’s attack on Kiev. Parallel to the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian authorities stepped up the promotion of an ultra-moral policy in cooperation with the Orthodox Church in the name of “traditional values” in the face of the characterization of Kiev and its Western allies as corrupt.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
