RUSSIA: Russian parliament passes a law in the second reading prohibiting gay couples and singles from foreign countries to adopt Russian children

Record ID: 278442

  • Title: RUSSIA: Russian parliament passes a law in the second reading prohibiting gay couples and singles from foreign countries to adopt Russian children
  • Date: 18th June 2013
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE) (REUTERS) GAY ACTIVISTS CHANTING IN RUSSIAN 'WE WILL NOT LEAVE' POLICE ARRESTING GAY ACTIVISTS, PUTTING THEM INTO POLICE BUS CROWD NEAR POLICE BUS ARRESTED GAY ACTIVISTS LOOKING OUT POLICE BUS WINDOWS CROWD NEAR POLICE BUS WITH ARRESTED GAY ACTIVISTS AS ANTI-GAY PROTESTERS HEARD CHANTING IN RUSSIAN 'MOSCOW IS NOT SODOM' ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (FILE)
  • Embargoed: 3rd July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAD88V0G9W79CO8LITQIBZ4FU7E
  • Story Text: Russian parliament passed a bill in the second reading banning foreign same-sex couples from adopting Russian children, underscoring a growing rift with the West over gay rights under President Vladimir Putin.
    An amendment restricting foreign adoptions to "traditional" families was submitted by the lower house of parliament Committee on on Family, Women and Children Affairs in order to provide the children's security, a Committee representative told Reuters.

    "We are not ready to give them (the children) away to the countries, which can not provide their security, which can not guarantee their safety and which do not communicate enough with the Russian side so that we could control their living conditions - as it was in the case with the United States of America. As such we are absolutely against the adoption of Russian children by the same-sex couples," Olga Batalina, a lawmaker with the ruling United Russia party and deputy head of the Committee said.
    Russian legislation sets several requirements for adoptive parents from abroad such as sufficient income and a clean criminal record. Until recently it did not mention sexual orientation, however from now on the law will restrict the adoption by same-sex couples and singles.

    "Our restrictions only apply to certain type of citizens, who represent a country. We specified the type in the Family Code: those who have already registered a same-sex marriage, or the single citizens, because from the medical examination it is impossible to find out the sexual preferences of a person. In this sense it is quite natural that we can not take the excessive risk, understanding that the restrictions for the same-sex couples could provoke a flow of single citizens who, coming back to their country with a child, could engage into same-sex marriages," said Batalina.
    Vladimir Putin said recently that a French law allowing same-sex marriage went against traditional Russian values and signalled Moscow would take steps to ensure gay couples from abroad did not adopt Russian orphans. He also said he would back a ban on same-sex couples from abroad adopting Russian children if Russian parliament passes such a law.

    "In regards to the law restricting adoptions of children from Russia by those in same-sex marriages, I have not yet seen this law. If such a law is passed by the country's parliament, I will sign it," Putin said after a summit with European Union leaders in Yekaterinburg in the beginning of June.
    A week ago Russia's lower house passed a law banning gay "propaganda", a measure that human rights groups say has already fuelled attacks on homosexuals as Putin pursues an increasingly conservative social agenda.
    As parliament debated the bill, gay activists who had taken part in a "kissing protest" outside parliament to demonstrate against the law were harassed and pelted with eggs by anti-gay protesters, then about 20 of them were arrested.
    Putin has frequently championed socially conservative values and courted the conservative Russian Orthodox Church during a new term he started in May 2012, after a series of large street protests by mostly liberal Russians in big cities.
    Homosexuality, punished with jail terms in the Soviet Union, was decriminalised in Russia in 1993, but prejudice runs deep.
    Western governments have criticised the legislation and Putin faced protests by supporters of gay rights on a visit in April to the Netherlands, the first country to allow same-sex marriage.
    Russia banned all adoptions by Americans this year in a dispute with the United States over human rights.
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