- Title: RUSSIA: Parliament passes gay propaganda law in final third reading
- Date: 11th June 2013
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JUNE 11, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIORS OF RUSSIAN STATE DUMA BUILDING PARLIAMENT IN SESSION GAY PROPAGANDA LAW AUTHOR ELENA MIZULINA SPEAKING DEPUTIES LISTENING FEMALE DEPUTY TELLING HER COLLEAGUES TO VOTE FOR LAW DEPUTIES VOTING FOR THEMSELVES AND FOR ABSENT DEPUTIES SCREEN SHOWING LAW BEEN PASSED (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) 'A JUST RUSSIA' PARTY DUMA DE
- Embargoed: 26th June 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Russian Federation
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA17MTPIX4YV2PZSB608EO8I9QM
- Story Text: Russia's parliament passed a bill banning homosexual "propaganda" on Tuesday (June 11) while police detained more than 20 gay rights activists outside.
The bill is one of a series of socially conservative measures garnering support in the Kremlin-dominated parliament during President Vladimir Putin's third term.
The State Duma, or lower house of parliament, passed the bill in two readings with only one deputy abstaining from vote, ignoring Western criticism that it curbs basic freedoms and concerns among activists that it is fuelling hate attacks on homosexuals.
The bill would ban the spread of "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations" among minors and impose heavy fines for violations.
"We need to protect our traditional Russian society. Marriage aimed at providing future generations is sacred in all religions. Our demographic situation is not an easy one. So everything that impedes the development of a normal family of course will be restricted in the Russian Federation," Duma deputy Elena Drapeko told the journalists in the parliament corridor.
Other lawmakers also supported harsh stance on gay 'propaganda'.
"At the moment this so-called freedom of same-sex marriages is being imposed on us. I believe that such sick people exist, I guess those people with abnormalities exist, they have always existed, but they have always believed it was wrong, they understood it themselves. But now the youth is being drawn into all this, they even think it is fashionable," Communist party member Tamara Pletnyova said.
Critics says the bill - a nationwide version of laws already in place in several cities including Putin's hometown of St Petersburg - would in effect ban all gay rights rallies and they fear it could be used to prosecute anyone voicing support for homosexuals.
"I personally believe that propaganda of sexual minorities, gay propaganda is unacceptable. The country which is interested in its future and in further existence for generations can not turn a blind eye to this," said the United Russia deputy Alexander Khinshtein.
Moscow police said about 20 people were detained at the protest outside the State Duma on Tuesday.
Putin, who has embraced the Russian Orthodox Church as a moral authority and harnessed its influence as a source of political support, has championed socially conservative values since winning a six-year third term in May 2012.
The 60-year-old president denies that Russia discriminates against gays but he has criticised them for failing to increase the country's population, which has declined sharply since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Activists say violence against homosexuals has increased since Putin returned to the Kremlin after four years as prime minister and that it is being fuelled by the bill and other aspects of his conservative agenda.
It is unusual for Russian authorities to link crimes with homophobia, but investigators have said anti-gay hate was the motive in the brutal murders of two men in the past month, one in eastern Russia and one in the southern city of Volgograd. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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