According to the speaker of the Duma, the law reform is intended to be implemented in order to maintain “traditional values”.
15:18•Updated 15:23
On Wednesday, the lower house of the Russian parliament, the Duma, has given its support to a law reform that would ban the adoption of Russian children to countries where gender reassignment is allowed.
According to the legislators, the purpose of the reform was to ensure that children adopted from Russia would not end up undergoing gender reassignment in their new home country. Legal and medical gender reassignment was banned in Russia last year.
Speaker of the Duma Vyacheslav Volodin commented on Wednesday that the law reform is necessary to maintain “traditional values”.
– It is necessary to protect our children from the dangers they may face when they are adopted or placed in families in countries where gender reassignment is allowed, he commented after the vote.
Other groups in favor of the law have also described the reform as a measure intended to protect adopted Russian children from potentially dangerous conditions in countries that are part of the military alliance NATO and support Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Before its final approval, the law reform still needs the upper house of the parliament and the president Vladimir Putin approval.
Sources: Reuters, AFP