Amnesty tells Russia’s Duma to Drop ‘absurd’! Homophobic Law

 State Duma to discuss law banning ‘promotion of homosexuality’ this week but international pressure is mounting  BY TRIS REID-SMITH      gaystarnews.com

Amnesty International has written to Russian politicians urging them to reject a controversial draft law on the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ in the State Duma.

Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, will consider the law (number 44554-6) against the ‘propaganda of homosexuality among minors’ on 19 December. A vote may be held that day.

In its letter to the Duma, Amnesty calls on Russian parliamentarians to respect the country’s international obligations to protect the right to freedom of expression and assembly of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.

If it’s passed, the new law would punish the ‘promotion of homosexuality among minors with fines of up to 500,000 roubles ($16,000 €12,000). But it is not clear what legal definition ‘propaganda’ or indeed ‘homosexuality’ would have, meaning the law’s impact could be very wide.

Similar already exist in some Russian regions, most famously St Petersburg but also Ryazan, Arkangelsk Kostroma, Novosibirsk, Magadansk, Samar, Bashkortostan and Krasnodar.

The UN Human Rights Committee ruled against the law in Ryazan when activist Irina Fedotova appealed a court decision to them.

She had been fined 1,500 roubles ($49 €37) for putting up posters that read ‘homosexuality is normal’ and ‘I am proud of my homosexuality’ near a school in Ryazan. Authorities tried her for ‘public actions aimed at the propaganda of homosexuality’.

But in October the UN committee found said Russia had violated Fedotova’s rights to freedom of expression and non-discrimination.

Amnesty International Europe and Central Asia director John Dalhuisen said: ‘The law is not just unjust, it is patently absurd.

‘It will discriminate against LGBTI people in a country where discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity is already widespread.

‘This law will deny LGBTI people equality before the law by curtailing the activities of LGBTI human rights defenders, some of whom have already been harassed and assaulted. It will deprive LGBTI people of information that could be crucial for their sexual health.

‘This law perversely presumes that the moral, spiritual and psychological development of children is best served by denying them access to support and information that can help them make informed, autonomous and responsible decisions.

‘A decisive action by Russian parliamentarians to reject this discriminatory and shameful law will be a clear signal to number of Russian cities to follow suit and scrap their legislation targeting LGBTI people.’

The bill is being pushed at the Duma by the United Russia party of President Vladimir Putin, which has a majority there.

However Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, also of United Russia, indicated he wasn’t aware of his own party’s plans when he said legislation like that wasn’t needed.

He added: ‘Probably this issue does not concern too many people in the country, and it’s not discussed at all levels.’

Others to have condemned the law include the European Parliament and Human Rights Watch.