18 Jun. 2013
The Russian Parliament has introduced the law that bans foreign same-sex couples from child adoption. The law was generally backed by deputies, it was Vladimir Putin's personal legal initiative. The second reading and its final voting will take place today in the evening.
The law prohibits the adoption by families that "consist of same sex individuals who live in a partnership which is considered as a marriage and registered according to the legislation of the state where such marriage is allowed as well as by single persons, nationals of the above mentioned states, who are single" (excerpt from the federal law 229781-6).
The necessity of adoption of such a discriminative legislation in Russia was heated by recent developments on "marriage for all" in France and legalization of same-sex marriages and adoption of children by gay couples in other EU countries as well as it was backgrounded by gay hate campaign in Russian media.
Sergay Naryshkin, the speaker of the Russian Gosduma, a well-known conservative and critic of LGBT rights, has called the ban on adoption by same-sex couples as a "system's bug fix", meaning that the same law at the same time had also simplified the adoption procedure for Russian families. This law, developed inside the Gosduma's Committee headed by Elena Mizoulina, would come into full effect on June 21, 2013.
The local press has named today's law as another one in a series of homophobic initiatives of Russian Duma fulfilled since June 2013. For reference: On June 11 the Duma voted for the scandal draft-law on ban of the so-called "non-traditional sexual orientation propaganda".
English translation presented by Yerdna Bananes