Russia bans child adoptions for citizens of countries that allow gender transition
People from countries where gender transitioning is legal, including many in Europe, will no longer be allowed to adopt children from Russia after President Vladimir Putin signed a ban into law this weekend.
The Kremlin leader also approved legislation that outlaws the spread of material that encourages people not to have children.
The bills, which were previously approved by both houses of Russia’s parliament, follow a series of laws that have suppressed sexual minorities and bolstered longstanding conventional values.
Russian lower house Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, who was among the new bill’s authors, said in a Telegram post in July that “it is extremely important to eliminate possible dangers in the form of gender reassignment that adopted children may face in these countries”.
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The adoption ban would apply to at least 15 countries, most of them in Europe, as well as Australia, Argentina, and Canada. Adoption of Russian children by US citizens was banned in 2012.
Trans people’s access to medical care varies greatly across Europe.
Six countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden) have policies in place to ensure people can access gender-affirming care without “unreasonable requirements,” according to a recent Council of Europe report.
Meanwhile, trans people have “partial access” in 26 countries and access is largely inaccessible in another 14 countries, the report found.
In Russia, other newly approved bills ban what they described as propaganda for remaining child-free, and impose fines of up to 5 million rubles (about €47,400).
Its proponents contended that public arguments against having children are part of purported Western efforts to weaken Russia by encouraging population decline.
Putin’s crackdown on Western influence
Putin and other top officials in recent years have increasingly called for observing so-called traditional values as a counter to Western liberalism. As Russia’s population declines, Putin has made statements advocating large families and last year urged women to have as many as eight children.
Russia last year banned gender-transition medical procedures and its Supreme Court declared the LGBTQ+ “movement” to be extremist.
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In 2022, Putin signed a law prohibiting the distribution of LGBTQ+ information to people of all ages, expanding a ban issued in 2013 on disseminating the material to minors.
Since he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin leader has repeatedly characterised the West as “satanic” and accused it of trying to undermine Russia by exporting liberal ideologies.
Independent journalists, critics, activists, and opposition figures in Russia have come under increasing pressure from the government in recent years, which has intensified significantly amid the conflict in Ukraine.
Hundreds of nongovernmental groups and individuals have been designated as “foreign agents" – a label that implies additional government scrutiny and carries strong pejorative connotations.
