Russia Passes Controversial Anti-Transgender and Anti-Childfree Laws in One Day

Russian State Duma  has passed a law, in both its second and final third readings, prohibiting the adoption of Russian children by citizens of countries where "gender transition" is permitted. The State Duma deputies have also unanimously passed a bill to ban the “promotion of refusal to have children.”

This was reported by Meduza and Media Zone respectively, citing the website of the lower house of parliament.

The bill on prohibiting adoption introduces amendments to the Family Code, aimed at "eliminating any possibility of Russian children being adopted by representatives of the LGBTQ+ community," according to its explanatory note. 

Deputies noted that this effectively imposes a ban on adoption by citizens of NATO countries, as the majority of these nations legally permit gender transition.

The amendments also modify the article on “promoting non-traditional sexual relationships and gender transition” (6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), with fines reaching up to 5 million rubles for legal entities. 

The concept of “LGBT propaganda” will now include the “promotion of a child-free lifestyle” if it involves “spreading information and/or engaging in public actions aimed at making the choice not to have children appear attractive, […] equating the social value of having children with not having them,” or “imposing the idea of rejecting parenthood.”

State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin stated that this law’s critics exist only “abroad,” claiming they “want to do everything to see our country disappear.”

Russia’s parliament started working on the legislation to ban the promotion of a “child-free” lifestyle in September, as the country faces its lowest birth rate in 25 years.