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Russian President Putin Ratifies Law Restricting Gender Identity Rights: Blow To The LGBTQUIA+ Community
(CTN NEWS) – In a significant and devastating blow to the LGBTQUIA+ community, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an edict on July 24th that has now ratified a statute severely restricting gender identity rights.
As reported by The Moscow Times, this legislation gained unanimous approval from both chambers of the parliament, making it illegal for individuals to undergo official or medical changes to their gender identity.
The new law explicitly bans any “medically oriented interventions aiming to modify an individual’s sex,” encompassing hormonal therapy or surgical procedures that facilitate gender transitions.
Marriages Invalidated and Adoption Rights Revoked for Transgender Individuals
Moreover, it prohibits altering one’s gender on official records and public registers. In essence, this legislation erases legal recognition and protection for transgender individuals in Russia.
The scope of the restrictions is expanded even further, as the law forbids transgender individuals from adopting children, and it also invalidates marriages if one of the partners has undergone a gender transition.
The only exception to these restrictions is in cases involving “innate physiological anomalies related to sexual formation in children.”
Advocates of the law claim that its purpose is to protect Russia from what they perceive as “Western anti-family ideology,” with some going as far as equating gender transitioning to “pure satanism.”
The news of this law has deeply disturbed LGBT activists, who fear that it will exacerbate already alarming rates of suicide and suicide attempts within the transgender community.
They also express concern that the law could drive individuals to seek underground methods for gender transitioning, creating potential risks to their health and well-being.
Yan Dvorkin, the leader of Center-T, an organization supporting transgender and non-binary individuals in Russia, voiced his distress in an interview with The Moscow Times.
Russian LGBTQUIA+ Community Faces Bleak Future as Government Tightens Restrictions on Gender Identity Rights
He expressed that these new measures are dismantling the hopes and aspirations of these individuals for a better future.
Russia has been gradually tightening its restrictions on LGBTQ+ rights. In 2020, same-sex marriages were banned, and last year, a law was enacted to prohibit public displays and media portrayals of non-heterosexual identities.
In a related development, the health ministry had previously issued an order mandating Russian clinics to employ sexologists with the aim of “overcoming” homosexuality and other perceived sexual “mental disorders,” as reported by Reuters.
The enactment of this law marks a dark and regressive moment for the Russian LGBTQUIA+ community, leaving them with even fewer rights and protections, and further perpetuating a hostile environment that threatens their well-being and basic human rights.
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