“The State Duma will prohibit transgender and non -bureau for absolutely everything, an underground surgical market will appear,” - human rights activists

On June 14, the State Duma will consider the bill on the ban on the “sex change” (this formulation is used by the authorities to describe some stages of the transgender transition) using the surgical operation and changes in the passport. The State Duma has already made a statement that the “floor change is myth”, the exception was left only for children with congenital anomalies, and the members of the State Duma committee supported the bill and recommended that the deputies adopt it. As experts working with LGBTK+people explained in the conversation with The Insider, the State Duma uses an incorrect and transfer term “floor change”, and also want to accept the hardest version of the bill, which will prohibit transgender people with absolutely everything: starting a change of documents, ending with surgical manipulations. As a result, this will lead to the emergence of an underground surgical market and an increase in cases of gender dysphoria (stress and a sense of dissatisfaction with the prescribed gender role).

Need Tsellarius, coordinator of the equal counseling program for transgender people LGBTK+ Group “Exit”:

““ Small change ”is an incorrect term that is used to simplify. But in LGBTK+ the community no one says so, it is considered incorrect and transfobe to say so, because the “medical sex” is seven different components, and not all of them can “change”. If we say that the T-human (transgender person) “changes the floor”, we obviously do not expect that he can change, for example, chromosomal-he is genetic-gender. So what half we are talking about?

It is in order not to create such medical conflicts that the term “transgender transition” is used. This is the same, but more tactful and without questions for content. The transgender transition in Russia today implies three independent processes. Trans-Person can perform one, two, all three or not to perform any.

Legal transition - a change of documents, a medical transition - body changes and a social transition - integration into society in accordance with its gender identity. I repeat, it is not necessary to make a “full set”. There are people who, for example, change documents and make a social transition, but do not resort to medical interventions. Or, conversely, there are those who take hormonal therapy, but do not change documents for some reason. About all these people can be said with an equal degree of correctness that they make the transition.

Now the State Duma is considering the most stringent version of the law, which will prohibit absolutely everything - and the change of documents, and any medical manipulations, whether it be surgery or hormonal therapy. And this is a real nightmare for many transgender and non -bureau.

Unfortunately, even now there are people who underground hormonal therapy. It is worth noting that GT is the main component of the medical transition. Often hormone therapy is a sufficient treatment for a person to stop experiencing gender dysphoria. Properly selected by the competent doctor of GT gives noticeable external changes.

Independent intake of hormones is dangerous to health and can lead to irreversible consequences, including put a cross on the entire transition process. Unfortunately, even now there are people who do it themselves. We are afraid that with the release of the law there will also be an underground surgical market, which, of course, can lead to terrible consequences for the health and life of transgender people.

And no one “changes the floor” in the passport only because a person looks, for example, like a man, and the documents of a person are female. Even now, to change the gender marker and admission to surgery, you need to go through a commission of four specialists: a sexologist, a clinical psychologist and two psychiatrists. Observation of the patient before the commission, by the way, can occupy up to two years, that is, this is not always a quick process. Documents can only be changed with a positive opinion of the commission. With the commissioning of a new law, it will not be like that. ”

Igor Kochetkov, human rights activist, one of the founders of the Russian LGBT network:

“The transgender transition is not a legal concept, but rather a sociological one. Here we mean the whole process, including the process of social adaptation of a person. It can begin long before surgical and legal actions and last all his life, and even after it has been completed, because complete integration is a difficult thing. In my opinion, it is better in the context of this law not to use the expression “transgender transition”.

The concept of “sex change”, which is present in this bill, was invented by these illiterate deputies of the State Duma, who adopted the law on “propaganda”. Then for the first time the concept of “sex change” in the legislation appeared, and what it is is not entirely clear. In the old legislation, there is the concept of “sex change”, and this means a very specific thing: a change in the record in acts of civil status. In the law on acts of civil status, the concept of “sex change” was used back in 1998, this law continues to operate.

This bill, which today the State Duma is going to consider in two readings, also implies the abolition of this norm, that is, the cancellation of the fourth paragraph of the 70th article of the Law “On Acts of Civil Status”. The possibility of making records to acts of civil status and the possibility of changing the gender marker is destroyed, that is, a legal change of gender is prohibited.

As for medical actions, it is not said about the operations, but it is said about any medical interventions. What is understood as this, I do not know, but I assume that in the second reading some clarifying formulations will appear. At least, the Ministry of Health will insist on this. The Committee of the Ministry of Health suggests that the bill requires legal and technical improvement regarding terminology and clarifications regarding synchronization with the law “On Health Protection” and with acts of civil status.

When the responsible committee adopted the law on “propaganda” in December, they also wrote that it was necessary to clarify the formulations, but did not clarify anything. The state apparatus entered the stage of chaotic activity, when they do not comply with their laws, nor their regulations, nor their recommendations, more precisely, give them, but do not comply . So it is unclear whether something will change in the second reading.

In fact, the law forbids people to provide medical assistance in which they need, because no one canceled the diagnosis of transsexuality in the ICD-10. There is a certain condition in which a person needs medical care. This is a fact, because this state leads to gender dysphoria, that is, to serious stress, depressive disorders and risks of suicidal behavior. In this state, people need professional medical care, and this law prohibits medical workers to provide medical care. For the practice of Russian legislation, this is a precedent that is dangerous not only for transgender people, but for the whole society. Tomorrow they can adopt a law that will prohibit assistance to patients with diabetes. Suddenly they will have any ideological considerations about this?

“It is impossible to change the floor at home, this is not an abortion even that can be technically performed at home. If we are talking about surgical operations, then can you cut out the appendicitis at home? And these are much more complex things. There are operations on the genitals, mammary glands and so on. If a person at home, excuse me, will try to cut off a member - they say that there were such precedents - and if such a person is saved, then most likely they will simply put it in a psychiatric medical institution. Of course, this is not the basis for changing documents. Now nothing will be such a basis. ”

In December 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on the complete ban on “propaganda” of non -traditional sexual relations and a transgender transition. According to him, for the “propaganda” of LGBT, pedophilia and sex change among individuals of any age, a fine of 50 thousand to 800 thousand rubles can be assigned. At the same time, everything that seems to the authorities similar to LGBT “propaganda” may come under blurry formulations in the law. In May 2023, Kommersant, citing the head of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, wrote that amendments prohibiting the transgender transition and the official shift of the gender marker in documents without a surgical operation would be made to the State Duma.