Vladimir Putin bans gender reassignments in Russia

By Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin popularity at home and abroad falters as his bogged down invasion of Ukraine drags into a second year and the county’s economy it goes from weakness to weakness. But he has a knack for what Western reactionaries like, like flamboyantly sticking it to the LGBTQ community: he signed a law banning gender confirmation surgery and administrative gender reassignments in Russia yesterday.

The act, passed unanimously by both houses of parliament, it prohibits any “medical interventions aimed at changing a person’s sex”, as well as banning gender change in official documents or public records. The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies. It also invalidates marriages where a person has “gender changed” and bans transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents. The ban is said to stem from the Kremlin’s crusade to protect what it sees as the country’s “traditional values”. Lawmakers say the legislation protects Russia against “Western anti-family ideology”, with some describing gender transition as “pure Satanism”. Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ people began a decade ago, when the president first proclaimed a focus on “traditional family values,” supported by the Russian Orthodox Church.

It may not please the parents (or grandfather and grandmother) who will never see their sons again, but at least Ron DeSantis and JK Rowling they have some international support for their culture wars.