Russian President Vladimir Putin on
Thursday vowed he would never allow gay and lesbian couples to
legally marry as long as he's in the Kremlin.
According to Reuters, Putin made the
comments as he met a state commission to discuss changes to Russia's
constitution.
(Related: Vladimir
Putin would rather not shower with a gay man: Why provoke him?)
“As far as 'parent number 1' and
'parent number 2' goes, I've already spoken publicly about this and
I'll repeat it again: As long as I'm president, this will not happen.
There will be dad and mum,” Putin said.
Putin, who is closely aligned with the
conservative Orthodox Church, has previously suggested that gay
people harm kids and signed a bill into law that makes it illegal
for Russians to speak favorably about the LGBT community. Violations
include publicly waving a rainbow flag, a symbol of the LGBT rights
movement.
(Related: Russian
Orthodox leader says gay marriage as immoral as Nazi laws.)
Speaking on the law in 2014, Putin said
that it “does not hurt anyone,” suggesting that sexual minorities
are effectively invisible in Putin's Russia.
Putin has also failed to speak out
against the attacks on mostly gay men going on in the Russian
republic of Chechnya.
(Related: Welcome
to Chechnya
producers hope docu “activates” Trump admin to respond to LGBT
crisis.)