The fate of the bill on the ban on gender reassignment has not yet been decided

A bill banning gender reassignment that is not related to the treatment of congenital physical anomalies, as Kommersant found out, can be sent by the State Duma for additional approval to the relevant departments. On the eve of the second reading of the document in parliament, lawyers and doctors working with transgender people wrote a critical review of the draft. They point out that the proposed amendments violate the right to life and medical care, as well as “impose an ideology”, and ask to remove the document from consideration. The legislative and executive authorities do not yet have a unified position on how tough the conditions for gender transition should be.

Wednesday is the deadline for submitting amendments to bill on the prohibition of sex reassignment not related to the treatment of congenital physical anomalies. Deputies, we recall, unanimously adopted it in the first reading in mid-June, and the second course should take place this week. However, a source familiar with the situation told Kommersant that there are so many disagreements during the discussion of the document that the Council of the State Duma, which will be held on June 28, will probably decide to send the project for approval to the relevant departments, essentially removing it from the agenda.

The transpersons themselves, as well as lawyers and doctors, are asking to refuse the amendments. On June 23, a round table was held at the site of the Independent Psychiatric Association, where the bill was discussed. The organizers of the legal project “The LGBT+ Case” specify that the event was attended by representatives of almost 30 human rights, HIV-service, medical organizations, lawyer associations, and trans-community initiatives. The main topic of discussion was the preparation of a response to the “transphobic bill” and the start of an advocacy campaign.

It follows from the explanatory note to the draft law that a change in legislation regarding the issue of gender reassignment is necessary in order to protect traditional family values ​​and the institution of marriage as a union of a man and a woman, as well as to combat unfair medical practice.

The response of the activists says that in reality the document “is aimed at discrimination and deprivation of access to medical care for people with a medical diagnosis of transsexualism, is based on information that is not supported by a sufficient evidence base and does not contribute to the achievement of the stated goals.”

In their opinion, the bill violates the right to life enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 3), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 6, Russia is a state party to the pact), the Constitution of the Russian Federation; violates the right to the highest attainable standard of health and medical care, the right not to be discriminated against, and “establishes a universally binding system of views – an ideology.” “The ban on providing medical care to people diagnosed with transsexualism is explained by the inconsistency of the only method of treating such a diagnosis recognized by official science with traditional Russian spiritual and moral values. This not only contradicts the constitutional provisions on the highest value of a person, but also allows us to talk about a single universally binding system of views, in connection with the presence of which certain actions to assist a person in exercising his rights are recognized as subject to a ban,” the review says.

The executive director of the Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia, Lyubov Vinogradova, claims that the psychiatric community will send a letter to the Ministry of Health against the “misanthropic bill.”

“It was prepared without any consultation with psychiatrists. We see an attempt to regulate issues related to science, medicine, by non-professional legislators – without discussion, without public hearings, but simply with a swoop for political reasons,” says Ms. Vinogradova. According to her, 0.5% of the population live with a “true transgender” and this condition, as a rule, manifests itself from childhood. The discrepancy between gender and sex has a serious stressful effect on them: “There are depressions, suicides, self-harm. We know cases when people cut off parts of their bodies that interfere with them. Of course, this should be regulated by medicine,” continues Lyubov Vinogradova.

However, she does not deny that among those wishing to change sex there are people with severe mental disorders, in whom such ideas “arise within the framework of their psychotic experiences.” It is precisely in order to identify them and not allow the transition that commissions of psychiatrists, psychologists and sexologists have been created in Russia, emphasizes Lyubov Vinogradova. The authors of the bill, in turn, point out that in Russia the practice of gender reassignment and informing citizens about this possibility is only gaining momentum, in parallel with this, the number of formal confirmation of gender reassignment is growing. The explanatory note cites the statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: from 2016 to 2022, 2990 people applied for a replacement of the passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation on the basis of “sex change”, while in 2016 there were only 142, and in 2022 – 996.

According to Lyubov Vinogradova, psychiatrists do not support a “ban on medical care” for people diagnosed with transsexualism.

She draws attention to the fact that the Ministry of Health partly shares this position. The press service of the medical department, Kommersant, stated that they were in favor of strict regulation in this area. There are a number of objective medical situations that must be considered, such as those associated with congenital genetic abnormalities. The issue in each such case should be resolved on the basis of a limited circle of medical organizations of a high expert level, the department said. However, State Duma Vice Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy, during the first reading of the bill, said that the deputies received a “very emotional conclusion from the Ministry of Health” on this bill, and sarcastically recounted the contents of the letter: “If the bill is adopted, a stalemate will arise in which people whose gender is officially recognized medical workers who do not match the gender indicated in the passport, the poor will not be able to bring their passport data into line with the reality that has developed in their head, and this can cause ethical and social problems, and also lead to … What do you think ? To an increase in suicides in the country.

Natalia Kostarnova