Alexander Khinshtein will ban four letters – Picture of the Day – Kommersant

Deputy Alexander Khinshtein (United Russia) has prepared a bill to ban “LGBT propaganda” among citizens of all ages, not just minors, as it is now. According to him, “public approval of non-traditional sexual relations” threatens “the demographic growth and economic development of the country.” Earlier, Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin promised to introduce such a ban. There is also a similar bill from the Communists in the lower house, but Mr. Khinshtein decided to go further than his colleagues and at the same time ban “propaganda of pedophilia”, as well as “demonstration of LGBT relations” to minors. As an example of public danger, he cited a hypothetical situation with the invitation of “transvestite animators to a school party”: the deputy regrets that now this cannot be considered “LGBT propaganda.”

The head of the Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, Alexander Khinshtein, sent a draft law introducing administrative responsibility for “LGBT propaganda” to the government for review. Recall that since 2013, the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation already has a similar article. 6.21 – a ban on the dissemination of information aimed at the formation of “non-traditional sexual attitudes” in children. It is also forbidden to inform minors about the “attractiveness” of LGBT relationships or talk about the “social equivalence of traditional and non-traditional relationships.” For violations, individuals may face a fine of up to 5,000 rubles, officials – up to 50,000 rubles, and legal entities – up to 1 million rubles. or suspension of activities for up to 90 days. Foreign citizens are also threatened with administrative arrest for 15 days, followed by deportation from Russia. Russian human rights activists called the norm inconsistent with the Constitution, and the European Court recognized it as unambiguously discriminatory.

Mr. Khinshtein decided to extend the ban to adult citizens. “Public approval and the formation of the attractiveness of non-traditional sexual relations is dangerous not only for children and young people who are not yet able to think critically, but for the whole society as a whole, since it threatens the demographic growth and economic development of the country,” the explanatory note to his bill says. “In addition, such propaganda directly contradicts the norms enshrined in the new version of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.” Let us recall that it now says that marriage is “a union of a man and a woman.”

The parliamentarian proposes to rewrite the current article of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, extending it to all citizens, regardless of age. Fines should also be higher. So, for “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations and preferences” individuals will have to pay up to 100 thousand rubles, officials – up to 200 thousand rubles, legal entities – up to 1 million rubles. If the act of “propaganda” was committed using the media and the Internet, the fines will be even greater: for citizens – up to 200 thousand rubles, for officials – up to 400 thousand rubles, and for legal entities – up to 4 million rubles.

Mr. Khinshtein also proposes to add two new articles to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. The first provides for liability for “propaganda of pedophilia.” According to it, a fine for citizens will be up to 400 thousand rubles, and for legal entities – up to 4 million rubles. When using the media and the Internet, citizens may face a fine of up to 800 thousand rubles, officials up to 2 million rubles, and legal entities – up to 10 million rubles. The second article will punish the dissemination of “information demonstrating non-traditional sexual relations or preferences” to minors.

Kommersant asked Mr Khinshtein to explain how “demonstration” differs from “propaganda”.

As the deputy explained, the difference is in the details: “Propaganda involves the formation of a positive image. But when children are directly shown how non-traditional sexual relations occur, this is not necessarily accompanied by propaganda.” Mr. Khinshtein gave a relevant example: “Transvestite animators are invited to a school party. This will not be promotion of non-traditional sexual relations – but will be a demonstration of non-traditional sexual relations. If the bill is adopted, “transvestites-animators” in such a situation will face a fine of up to 100 thousand rubles, officials (obviously, the director of the school) – up to 200 thousand rubles, and legal entities (the school itself) – up to 1 million rubles.

LGBT+ Cases lawyer Olga Kvi recalls that in the case of Baev and Others v. Russia, the ECHR (Russia is not under its jurisdiction since this year) has already characterized Russian legislation on “gay propaganda” as discriminatory, noting too wide boundaries interpretations and the impossibility of foreseeable application of the rules. From the point of view of the ECtHR, the Russian authorities have failed to demonstrate how “freedom of LGBT expression” devalues ​​or has a negative impact on established traditional families, but they have increased stigma, prejudice and encouraged homophobia by law. This, noted the ECtHR, “is incompatible with the ideas of equality, pluralism and tolerance in a democratic society.” If Khinshtein’s bill is passed, the number of “hate crimes” against LGBT people will increase in Russia, Olga Kvi believes.

She considers the deputy’s arguments about “a threat to demographic growth and economic development” to be populist: “It would be much more effective for demographic growth to create conditions in which people would not be afraid to give birth to children. Instead, the state is increasingly trying to control the privacy of citizens.”

If the bill is passed, then LGBT people will disappear from the public field as a social group, points out lawyer Maxim Olenichev (included in the register of foreign agents). “This will lead to an increase in violence and discrimination, as prejudice against LGBT people is ingrained in our society, and the dissemination of information about them will be prohibited,” he explains. “Human rights organizations will not be able to publicly defend the rights of LGBT people. But no law can eliminate social life: LGBT people have been and are in any society. The fact that parliamentarians do not want to notice them will not disappear anywhere, but will live next to each of us, but at the same time they will remain without support and protection.”

“In modern civilized countries, such bans are viewed as unjustified interference by the state in the private lives of citizens,” says Konstantin Dobrynin, senior partner at the Pen & Paper Bar Association. “Our current criminal law considers only those homosexual acts that are committed with violence, are criminal among adults, threats of violence or using the helpless state of the victim. Everything else constitutes the freedom of sexual behavior of an adult and is permitted by law.

According to Mr. Dobrynin, the idea of ​​holding accountable for the dissemination of information about lawful behavior “looks completely illiterate, although in the spirit of the current special wartime.”

Recall that discussions about such a bill have been going on for several years, but have sharply intensified this summer. In June, the Legislative Assembly of Sevastopol submitted to the lower house a draft amendment to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, which provides for fines for “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations.” And on July 8, the Day of Love and Fidelity, the speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin also spoke in favor of the introduction of a similar ban: “With the exit from the Council of Europe, demands to legalize same-sex marriages in Russia have become a thing of the past. Attempts to impose alien values ​​on our society have failed. It is right to introduce a ban on propaganda of non-traditional values,” he wrote in his Telegram channel. After that, a group of deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party and the SRZP introduced a bill to ban information promoting non-traditional sexual relations. In the explanatory note, they substantiated the need for their initiative by the fact that “the denial of the family as a social value, the promotion of the so-called childfree lifestyle (without children) and the popularization of non-traditional sexual relations” are no less dangerous for society than the previously banned propaganda of drugs and suicide. At the same time, the Duma Committee on Information Policy announced that they were developing their own project on the same topic.

Anna Vasilyeva, Uliana Mironova