Russian parliament to consider complete ban on LGBT and pedophilia propaganda: huge fines for locals, deportation for foreigners

The State Duma has before it a legislative package on a complete ban of LGBT and pedophilia “propaganda” in Russia, encompassing mass media, books, the Web, advertisements, and movies, informs Petr Tolstoy, the Duma vice speaker and United Russia deputy.

Should the package be adopted, foreigners guilty of “promoting” LGBT would be deported from Russia and fined up to $13,000. Russian citizens risk fines too.

According to the bill, distributing online content that “promotes” gender transition among minors would be punishable by a fine of up to $65,000. Similar fines would be imposed for “LGBT propaganda” targeting adult online audiences, while the same type of content distributed among minors is punishable by a fine of up to $81,000. Promoting pedophilia online would “cost” up to $162,000.

According to Tolstoy, the bills have garnered support from almost 400 deputies, and the first 60 signatories come from an “inter-faction group for the protection of Christian values”. The spokesman lauded the decision the Duma is about to make as “evident and long-anticipated”. He does not believe that the previously introduced ban on “LGBT propaganda” among minors is sufficient. As he reiterated, the proposed amendments suggest banning the distribution of information that could encourage minors to consider gender transition.

“If we consider the propaganda and endorsement of LGBT as a tool in the hybrid war (which no one can doubt at this point), we must admit that it harbors threats not only for our children but our society at large. This law can protect the upcoming generation from the propaganda of perversions.”

As the deputy presumes, Russia “has entered the decisive stage of its battle for traditional moral, family, and religious values”, with its entire future at stake.

Earlier, the State Duma Committee for Information Policy proposed banning the “propaganda of non-traditional relationships” in Russia regardless of the audience's age. Deputy Alexander Hinshtein announced that the bill would be considered in the fall. The bill suggests administrative liability for such “propaganda” regardless of the recipient's age across offline space, mass media, the Internet, social networks, and video streaming platforms.