Russian President Vladimir Putin has
signed a bill which prohibits “gay propaganda” throughout Russia.
According to the AFP, Putin signed the
bill into law on Saturday.
The measure is modeled after a law
which took effect last year in St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg's law
criminalizes “public actions aimed at propaganda of pederasty,
lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism among minors.” It also
bans public events that promote gay rights, such as Gay Pride parades
and gay rights demonstrations.
It cleared the Federation Council last
week and the Russian State Duma, the lower house, earlier in the
month.
Yelena Mizulina, a coauthor of the
bill, said it was was needed to protect children.
“[The bill prohibits] the spreading
of information aimed at forming nontraditional sexual attitudes among
children, attractiveness of nontraditional sexual relations, or a
distorted perception of social equality between traditional and
nontraditional sexual relations,” Mizulina
is quoted by Reuters as telling colleagues. “Secondly, [it
prohibits] the imposition of information about nontraditional sexual
relations that may cause interest in them among children.”
Putin agreed, saying earlier this week:
“We are talking about protecting children from the respective
information.”
“We ask that [other countries] do not
interfere in our regulation,” he added, responding to criticism
from Western countries and human rights groups.
The push for a national law comes amid
rising homophobia in Russia. Two men were brutally murdered
allegedly over their sexual orientation in recent months.
(Related: Man
tortured, murdered in Russia after coming out gay and Gay
man murdered in Russia's Far East.)