Russia May Double Fines For “LGBTQ+ Propaganda”
The text of proposed new legislation shows that Russia is considering doubling fines for exposing children to LGBTQ+ "propaganda” and making any event or act seen as promoting homosexuality an administrative offence, according to US News.
Passed in 2013, Russia's existing “gay propaganda” law bans any "promotion" of homosexual relationships to children. Lawmakers argued in July the law should be extended to include adults as well.
Under the proposed law, the penalty for promoting “non-traditional sexual relations” to children would be doubled to 2 million rubles ($33,000 or £29,000) for entities, with the fine increasing to up to 5 million rubles ($82,000 or £72,000) if the offence took place online or in the media.
Individuals could be fined up to 400,000 rubles, while foreigners found to committing the "crimes" would face deportation.
“Currently, liability only applies to LGBT propaganda among children. My colleagues on the committee and I would like to extend it to any propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations, regardless of age,” lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein said.
The draft law is expected to be debated following the start of the State Duma's autumn session.
Authorities in Russia say they are defending morality in the face of "un-Russian" liberal values promoted by the West. Human rights activists say the law has been broadly applied to intimidate Russia's LGBTQ+ community.
TikTok was threatened with a 4 million ruble fine after a Russian court heard it promoted “videos with LGBT themes.” The country's media regulator asked a union of publishing houses last week to look at withdrawing all books disseminating “LGBT propaganda” from sale.
Authorities had previously used the law to stop gay pride marches and detain gay rights activists. The latest proposals, if passed, would significantly widen the scope of this law.
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