Post date: Jun 21, 2013 4:39:28 PM
Russian lawmakers pass a bill barring same-sex foreign couples from adopting Russian children.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JUNE 21, 2013) (REUTERS) - Russian lawmakers passed a bill barring same-sex foreign couples from adopting Russian children on Friday (June 21), heeding strong signals of support from President Vladimir Putin and broadening a rift with Western nations over gay rights.
The State Duma, or lower parliament house, approved the bill in its third and final reading, sending it to the upper chamber, which is expected to approve it. Both houses are dominated by United Russia party, which is loyal to Putin.Putin, in power since 2000, has championed socially conservative values and held out Russian Orthodox Church as a moral compass since he weathered a wave of protests by mostly liberal urbanites and started a third Kremlin term last year.
The bill could be a concession to the conservative part of society ahead of Russia's regional elections in September, Duma deputy Alexei Mitrofanov said.
"People in the regions demand stricter family rules. In this case the lawmakers follow these demands. The regional and municipal elections are near. I think this law also has a lot to do with the local elections," Mitrofanov said.
Putin has shrugged off U.S. and European criticism of a ban on spreading gay "propaganda" among minors that the Duma passed this month, which gay rights activists fear has fuelled attacks on homosexuals.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement on Thursday (June 20) that the ban could "stigmatise" gays and cause discrimination, and the United States has said it severely restricts freedom of expression and assembly.
However, the vote showed that that the majority of the lawmakers supported Putin's stance.
"We do not understand how can we promote same-sex marriages and make them legal and even more so to give away our Russian children to be brought up there. This cripples people's minds, and we should be honest about it, mankind's development in this direction leads to a dead end. So the Communist faction voted for this bill," said Duma deputy from the Communist party, Anatoliy Lokot.
"Our position is quite clear, it has been stated before, the President has already talked about it. More than 80 per cent of Russian society supports this position," head of the United Russia faction in the Duma, Vladimir Vasiliev said.
The Duma's passage of the bill to ban same-sex foreign couples came as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has criticised Putin over civil rights, met him at a showcase Russian economic forum in St Petersburg.
Germany has condemned the gay "propaganda" ban and German Foreign MinisterGuido Westerwelle, who is gay, said after its passage that attempts to stigmatise same-sex relationships had no place in a democracy.
Putin says Russia does not discriminate against gays, but he has criticised them for not adding to Russia's population, which has declined sharply since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The same-sex adoption ban was rushed through parliament after Putin said in late April that a new French law allowing same-sex marriage went against traditional Russian values.
It fits into a Kremlin campaign to restrict foreign adoptions, a sensitive issue after Americans and Europeans flooded into Russia to adopt children after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
In December, Putin signed a law banning all adoptions by Americans, a move motivated by disputes with Washington over human rights and what Russia says is the inadequate prosecution of U.S. couples suspected of abusing children adopted in Russia.
Advocates of adoption say same-sex couples can provide loving homes for children who might otherwise founder in Russia's troubled system of orphanages. Relatively few Russian couples adopt despite state efforts to promote the practice.