Russian Lawmakers Pass Law Prohibiting Gender Change

Russian MPs in the lower house of parliament (Duma) voted in favor of new legislation that would make gender reassignment illegal, reinforcing an ultra-conservative, anti-Western movement in society on Friday, July 14.

The bill prohibits “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records. Medical intervention to cure congenital abnormalities will be the sole exception.

On Thursday, July 13, the bill’s second reading included provisions to invalidate marriages in where one party has “changed gender” and to prohibit transgender persons from becoming foster or adoptive parents.

Before being signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the bill must be approved by Russia’s Federation Council, the Kremlin-controlled upper body that normally rubber stamps legislation authorized by the Duma.

The proposed legislation, according to the Duma, will have far-reaching effects for Russian transgender people: “Citizens who have already changed gender will be prohibited from adopting children, and their marriages will be annulled.”

“The State Duma banned gender reassignment in Russia. The relevant changes to the legislation, initiated by the Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin and deputies of all factions, were adopted in the final version unanimously,” read a statement on the Duma’s website.

“This decision will protect our citizens and our children,” Volodin said in a separate statement on social media.

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Since the beginning of its offensive in Ukraine, Russia has enacted a slew of reactionary laws, mainly against the LGBTQ population, with the goal of cracking down on what authorities consider deviant and Western-influenced behavior.

Earlier this week, Russia’s FSB security service announced the arrest of a transgender rights activist accused of “high treason” for aiding the Ukrainian troops.

Putin’s administration has consistently utilized attacks on transgender rights and LGBTQ individuals in general to reinforce the impression that the West has lost its moral compass.

Last year, the Russian government introduced a so-called “gay propaganda” law, effectively making any positive reference to LGBTQ partnerships illegal.

Russia passed its first LGBTQ rights legislation in 2013, emphasizing its opposition to depictions of “nontraditional sexual relations” to minors. Similar legislation has been passed in EU member Hungary, as well as in a number of US states.