Russian President Putin signs expanded anti-LGBTQ laws in latest crackdown on rights

New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a law expanding Russia’s restrictions on the promotion of what it calls “LGBT propaganda”, effectively outlawing any public expression of LGBTQ behaviour or lifestyle in Russia.

What does the new law say?

The new law suggests that any action or the spreading of any information that is considered an attempt to promote homosexuality in public, online, or in films, books, or advertising, could incur a heavy fine.

It significantly broadens the scope of a 2013 law which banned the dissemination of LGBTQ-related information to minors. The new iteration extends the ban on promoting such information to adults as well.

Authorities have already used the existing law to stop gay pride marches and detain gay rights activists.

Rights groups say the new law is intended to drive so-called “non-traditional” LGBT lifestyles practised by lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people out of public life altogether.

Individuals can be fined under the new law

Under the new law, individuals can be fined up to 400,000 rubles ($6,370) for “LGBT propaganda” and up to 200,000 rubles ($3,185) for “demonstrations of LGBTQ and information that encourages a change of gender among teenagers.”

These fines rise to up to 5 million rubles ($80,000) and 4 million rubles ($64,000) respectively for legal entities.

The law was approved by the Russia’s upper and lower houses in recent weeks.

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