Members of the Legislative Assembly once again cause public outrage

As announced by chairman of the Committee on Legislation, Vitaly Milonov, next Wednesday, February 8, the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg will consider a bill regarding the banning of "homosexual propaganda" in its second reading. This proposed legislation has already caused great outrage amongst the public: over the span of one week, over 9,000 people have signed a petition against it.

If the bill is passed, various forms of media risk being banned: films that portray homosexual relations between characters, pieces of art, blog discussions, popular science magazines, postings regarding medical facilities and psychological services; any method of disseminating objective, scientific information about sexual orientation, and even the mere presence of homosexuals in public. Moreover, the passing of this legislation could result in the propagation of social inequality, hatred and harassment in education institutions, and the discrimination of minors or their parents on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or even their tolerance for the LGBT community.

"This new homophobic attack by members of "United Russia" is a yet another attempt to divert the citizens' of St. Petersburg attention from the failure of urban politics to fictitious 'enemy propagandists.' Like in the Soviet Union, they are constantly imagining some type of propaganda" commented Olga Lenkova, an activist with the St. Petersburg-based LGBT organization "Coming Out."

Experts from various fields have also spoken out against the proposed legislation, noting the absurdity of this initiative and urging members of parliament to withdraw the bill from consideration, since it violates not only the Constitution of the Russian Federation and articles of Federal Legislation, but also goes against rational thought.

"A person can not willfully change their sexual orientation [...] because it is impossible to simply "persuade" yourself to be one thing or another. Even if we were to assume that a heterosexual person wanted very much to become a homosexual, there is no way this is going to happen."

Professor D.D. Isaev, Ph.D. medical sciences, Russian psychiatrist, psychotherapist, sexologist, and Department Head of Clinical Psychology at the  St. Petersburg State Academy of Pediatric Medicine

"The wording of both articles [...] is, quite frankly, ignorant, [...] absurd from the point of view of its own internal logic (or lack there of) and rational thought. [...] The use of such terms... leads to the confusion of the articles' meaning in the bill and complete distortion of the matter."

O.R. Demidova, Ph.D., professor, member of Union of St. Petersburg Writers, member of the Russian Union of Writers.

"This bill is directed against the interests of minors. [...] At least 47% of homosexual teens have seriously considered suicide, 36% have already attempted suicide. This is the result of isolation, lack of acceptance by their parents and peers, ridicule, insults, and/or depression. [...] Ignoring issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity only exacerbate the situation."

ANO "Lawyers for constitutional rights and freedoms YuRIKS"

Post-release of project Campaign against the homophobic law

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