Gay Adoptions Banned By Russian President Putin
Putin is reportedly saying “nyet” to gay couples who want to adopt.
Gay adoptions of Russian children will apparently soon be prohibited by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He reportedly wants the law in place by July 1.
Under the expected forthcoming regulations, foreign same-sex couples will no longer be able to adopt Russian orphans.
Putin’s latest action involving adoptions of Russian children is said to be in response to France and the UK being on the verge of legalizing gay marriage. France’s lower house has approved gay marriage, and the senate is expected to follow shortly. Britain’s House of Commons approved a gay marriage bill in February, but it must also pass the House of Lords to become law. Another factor in Putin’s initiative supposedly is a child-custody dispute that arose between an American gay couple who had adopted a Russian child.
Russia’s children’s rights ombudsmen Pavel Astakhov is already on record insisting that Russian children should only be adopted by heterosexual couples. There is also a move afoot in Russia to ban all foreign adoptions regardless of stated sexual orientation.
Russia is hardly on the forefront of gay rights. Domestically, gay couples can not officially adopt children in Russia: “The Russian Family Code does not allow same-sex marriage, making adoption by same sex-couples impossible. Adoption by unmarried individuals is technically possible; authorities do not require future parents to present proof of their sexual orientation.”
Putin made headlines late last year by imposing a ban on Americans adopting Russian children. Apparently this was in retaliation for the US Congress passing the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, which implements visa and banking restrictions on Russian officials in connection with human rights abuses, particularly those implicated in the prison death of Russian lawyer and accountant Magnitsky.
Last August, Moscow’s highest court put a 100-year ban on any attempts to stage a gay pride parade in the Russian capital city.
