Supreme Court of Russia also said that activists who support same-sex relationships will also be banned. Due to this order of the Supreme Court of Russia, transgender people, same-sex relatives, and activists have expressed their concern that a critical situation has arisen in which representatives of same-sex relatives may be arrested and prosecuted in the country.
Amid growing criticism of the order, the Supreme Court has said that it will accept the recommendation of the Russian Ministry of Law and issue the order. Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Justice had recommended to the Supreme Court to ban and outlaw non-traditional sexual relations and outlaw gender reassignment surgeries.
The Supreme Court has issued this restraining order while Vladimir Putin will soon announce his request to be the President of Russia for the next 6 years starting from March 2024. It is worth noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin has long talked about banning same-sex relationships in order to preserve Russian culture.
Speaking at an event last year, Putin said, “The West welcomes and accepts queerness. But as far as I’m concerned, they shouldn’t impose their accepted polygamy and heterosexual kinship rallies on other countries.” All these have now been pointed out and there are criticisms that the Law Ministry made the recommendation due to Putin’s pressure.
In this case, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, while talking to the press about the Supreme Court order, said, “The Kremlin (Russian President’s House) has nothing to do with the Supreme Court case and the order.”
The hearing of this case in the Supreme Court took place for 2 hours. The media was denied permission to cover the verdict live. However, arrangements were made only for journalists to seek court action. Speaking to reporters in St. Petersburg about the Supreme Court order, Russian LGBT activist Alexei Sergeev said, “This order is a wake-up call. “I never expected such a threat.” Further, “This ban will put the LGBT community in the worst position. There will be psychological problems. They will be forced to commit suicide. They become addicted to alcohol and smoking. They will do anything to escape from reality and perish,” he expressed concern.
A Supreme Court order has banned more than 100 same-sex movements in Russia.
UN Condemnation: This order of the Russian court was rejected by the UN. Human rights leader Volker Turk has condemned it. “Russia should take this order back. The situation for the LGBT community in Russia was already dire. Now it has deteriorated a lot,” he said. Russia criminalized homosexuality in 1993. In 1999 it was listed as a mental disorder. Since 2013, it has become a criminal offense to create awareness among children about non-traditional sexual relations.
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