Russia Approves Ban on Gender Change Procedures
- Pixabay/3dman_eu
Russia – In a moment, Russia will officially ban gender change procedures. The State Duma, or lower house of parliament approved the bill on Friday. It only just wait for President Vladimir Putin to be signed into law.Â
The bill was passed in its third and final reading, banning "medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person" and "the state registration of a gender change without an operation".Â
According to the legislation, medical commissions will determine a list of allowed interventions related to the treatment of congenital anomalies, genetic and endocrine diseases associated with the impaired formation the genital organs in children.
"This decision will protect our citizens and our children," State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said.Â
Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin.
- Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
Volodin descrived gender change as the path leading to the degeneration of the nation. This is unacceptable for Russia.Â
Human rights activists warn that banning gender reassignment will lead to the emergence of an underground market for surgeries and an increase in the number of suicides among transgender people.
The new legislation must now pass a single reading in the upper-house Federation Council before it can be signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin, steps seen as formalities.Â
Once passed, the bill will prohibit child adoption by those who have had a sex change, while also allowing for the annulment of marriages where one of the partners has undergone gender reassignment.
Russian officials have frequently cast Western liberal values, particularly gender and sexual freedoms, as a foreign ideology that threatens Russia's so-called traditional and spiritual values.
Last year, Russia imposed a law banning the "propaganda" of LGBT relationships and lifestyles toward all ages, effectively outlawing public displays and media portrayals of non-heterosexual identities.
