Accepting the ban on LGBT propaganda, MPs discussed coming-outs
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Fines up to 5 million rubles will be introduced soon
The State Duma unanimously adopted in the second, decisive reading a bill on a complete ban on the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations in Russia. Minors cannot even “demonstrate” such relationships. Violations are subject to heavy administrative fines. It is not completely clear how the new rules, which will come into force in December, will work in practice.
At an expanded meeting of the relevant Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications at the beginning of the week, representatives of the Union of Journalists, the Union of Cinematographers, the Media Communications Union, the Russian Book Union spoke about supporting the very idea of a total ban on “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations and (or) preferences” and gender reassignment (as it is written in the bill), but at the same time they asked Roskomnadzor and the Ministry of Culture to clarify how to distinguish permitted content from prohibited. At the last moment, they discovered that the content of the draft law concerns both them and the Association of Internet Trade Companies: by the second reading, an amendment was made to the text of the document, which prohibits the sale in Russia of any product, “including imported”, containing any information, for the dissemination of which subject to administrative or criminal liability. Online retailers have asked for the amendment to be delayed for the time being, because it would cost a lot to examine everything that is sold for prohibited information. And what should be done with those goods (mostly books) that were prepared for sale according to the previous rules, that is, taking into account the ban on the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations among minors introduced back in 2013? Now, after all, minors will not be able to “demonstrate” such relationships …
The head of the committee, Alexander Khinshtein (ER), met with representatives of the association before the start of the plenary session. “In the course of a long discussion, we managed to explain to our colleagues that this norm is necessary. If LGBT books are banned from sale in stores, but remain on electronic platforms, our efforts are worthless,” he wrote on his Telegram channel. And he said that another business meeting with the participation of the RKN, Rospotrebnadzor and the Ministry of Culture would be held in the near future, and the committee would ask these structures to prepare “the necessary written explanations.”
From the rostrum of the State Duma, Mr. Khinshtein called the resulting document “finally putting a barrier and a barrier to the dissemination of destructive information, which has recently transcended all limits.”
The second reading does not involve the speaker’s answers to questions, but it turned out that not everything was clear to the deputies either. Maria Prusakova (KPRF) asked if bloggers and owners of pages on social networks would be punished if bots started sending them “comments with rainbow flags”. No, Mr. Khinshtein reassured the communist: the social network itself will answer. Roskomnadzor will approve the procedure for monitoring the Internet for any prohibited content (not just LGBT propaganda) and will determine what types of information and on which resources should be monitored. This will be done by an organization chosen by the government. If it reveals “signs” of prohibited information, it will report to the RKN, and it will take measures for extrajudicial blocking.
“The coming-out of famous artists, athletes falls under the ban on the demonstration of non-traditional sexual relations among minors?” – Mikhail Matveev (KPRF) did not understand. “In each specific case, the decision to prosecute will be made by Roskomnadzor or the Ministry of Internal Affairs after an examination, and then by the court,” the speaker explained. And he added: “If the confession is accompanied by a demonstration of, say, a kiss, yes, this is punishable.”
The proposal of Yana Lantratova (“SR”) to specifically stipulate a ban on the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations in video games did not receive support: the profile committee believes that the bill covers computer games in its current form.
In a package with a bill introducing new prohibitions, a second one was adopted – on administrative penalties for violating them. For propaganda of LGBT attitudes and preferences, for example, fines are introduced as follows: from 50 thousand to 400 thousand rubles. for citizens; from 100 thousand to 800 thousand rubles. for officials; from 800 thousand to 5 million rubles. for legal entities, the alternative is suspension of activities for up to 90 days. Demonstration of LGBT attitudes and information that encourages minors to change their sex will be punished in much the same way. Propaganda of pedophilia (pedophilia itself, we recall, has long been a criminal offense) will cost much more: for citizens, the maximum fine is 800 thousand rubles, for legal entities – 10 million rubles.
Nina Ostanina (KPRF) and Nikolai Burlyaev (SR) proposed at the same time to introduce criminal liability for all of the above committed repeatedly. “I know that changes to the Criminal Code should be made by separate bills, but it seems to me that today’s topic deserves to be made an exception,” Ms. Ostanina said. The first deputy head of the relevant Committee on State Building and Legislation, Irina Pankina (ER), confirmed that, according to the law, changes to the Criminal Code must be made separately, with official reviews from the government and the Supreme Court. And in general, “the criminalization of these offenses still needs additional discussion,” she added.
The third reading of the bills is scheduled for November 24. The new bans will come into force from the moment of official publication, that is, immediately after the approval of the Federation Council and the signature of the President.
Newspaper headline:
Coming out with tears in my eyes
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