Putin Signs Legislation Banning Transgender Surgery, Child Sexual Mutilation

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, signed into law a bill amending the country's Family Code to ban "medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person;" with the sole exception for medical interventions to treat congenital anomalies.

The law contains clauses that designate gender changes as grounds for a marriage annulment and bans transgender individuals from adopting children. It also bans alterations to citizens' passports, identification cards and state registrations, especially as it relates to gender.

The legislation which was previously passed through both the upper and lower houses of the Russian Parliament(the State Duma and the Federation Council, respectively), was strengthened and passed unanimously earlier this month in its third and final reading in the lower house.

Russian lawmakers have framed the legislation as a proactive measure against "Western anti-family ideology." However, the law is widely praised by conservatives in the west who lament the LGBTQ degeneracy and propaganda promoted in Western cities and institutions by left-wing globalists.

Putin, who has developed close ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, portrays Western liberal values as destructive compared to "traditional values," in his speeches. He consistently campaigned, as a champion of family values, encouraging Russians to marry and have more children and offering monetary awards to parents with large families. In 2020, he advocated for a constitutional reform that outlawed same-sex marriage.

"Do we really want to have here, in our country, in Russia, 'Parent No. 1, No. 2, No. 3' instead of 'Mom' and 'Dad?'" Putin asked in September 2022 at a political ceremony during which Russia formally annexed regions of Ukraine. "Do we really want perversions that led to degradation and extinction to be imposed in our schools from the primary grades?"

The signing of the legislation comes ahead of Russia's 2024 presidential election, and amid the country's military invasion of Ukraine.