The Duma, as the Russian Parliament is called, on July 14 adopted a bill that makes it illegal for doctors to perform sex-change operations, among other gender-related issues.
The new bill amends two previous laws – “On civil status” and “On basic principles of protection of citizens’ health”. It means operations “aimed at changing the sex of a person, including the formation of primary and/or secondary sexual characteristics of the opposite sex in a person” are now banned in Russia.
Official records show that in 2022 there were 936 sex-change operations carried out in Russia.
Under the amended laws, an exception is made for cases related to the treatment of “congenital physiological abnormalities of sex development in children”. Such operations can be performed if approved by the medical commission but only in state-run clinics. A list of qualifying “abnormalities” will be decided and approved by the government.
Transgender individuals will also be barred from adopting children or establishing guardianship over them.
Registry offices will be prohibited from changing the passport of someone who has received a gender-reassignment document from a medical organisation.
The bill also now allows the annulment of a marriage if one of the spouses has changed their gender.
The rules will not apply to individuals who have changed their gender before the law comes into effect.
The bill was signed-off by 400 MPs from across party lines, including Communists and ultra-nationalists and approved by unanimity. An explanatory note on the bill is headed: “On the Approval of the Foundations of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values”.
Until now, gender-reassignment surgery was possible if a patient had been officially diagnosed with “transsexuality” by a psychiatrist.
Previously, to change the gender marker on documents, an individual had to undergo a medical examination by a qualified sexologist, psychologist and psychiatrist. Based on the diagnosis, a “gender-change certificate” was issued, which was valid for one year, granting the right to alter official documents. Now sex-change surgery has become illegal, altering such documents will not be possible.
Western observers say the new law is a heavy blow to Russia’s oppressed LGBTQ+ community.
Lyubov Vinogradova, executive director of Russia’s Independent Psychiatric Association, called the bill “misanthropic” in an interview with news outlet AP.
Gender-transitioning procedures “shouldn’t be banned entirely, because there are people for whom it is the only way to … to exist normally and find peace with themselves,” Vinogradova said.
❗️Госдума приняла закон о запрете «смены пола» во втором чтении
В обновлённую версию документа вошли следующие поправки:
1. Транс-люди не смогут усыновлять и удочерять детей
2. В России будут запрещены гендерно-аффирмативные операции и гормональная терапия1/3 pic.twitter.com/7scoxOG2Bx
— Fem Antiwar Resistance (@femagainstwar) July 13, 2023
