The House of Representatives supported the measure, saying it aimed to preserve the country’s “traditional values.”
For the first time, the Russian parliament has backed a bill that would ban citizens of countries that allow gender reassignment from adopting Russian children.
Parliament said on Wednesday that the measure was essential to protect the country’s “traditional values.” Lawmakers almost unanimously supported the bill in its first reading, with 397 votes in favor and 1 against.
The bill would ban entry to citizens of countries that recognize “sex change through medical intervention, including the use of medicines,” or that allow individuals to change their gender on official identity documents.
Russia introduced a law last year banning legal or medical gender change as part of a wider crackdown on LGBTQ rights.
A recent bill on adoption, which had already been approved in concept by the government, received the support of the State Duma, the lower house, in the first of three readings.
The bill needs two more rounds of reading and approval by the Senate before it can be signed into law by President Vladimir Putin.
The bill’s authors portrayed the measure as an effort aimed at protecting children adopted from Russia from potentially dangerous situations in countries in the NATO military alliance that is backing Ukraine in its war with Russia.
“The decision is aimed at preserving childhood and traditional values,” Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, a close ally of Putin, said after the vote.
“We need to protect children from the dangers they face if they are adopted or placed in foster care by nationals of a foreign country whose gender reassignment is recognized,” Volodin added.
In an interview with Russian media earlier this month, Borodin described Europe and the United States’ recognition of gender reassignment as “sick” and an attack on people who “were men yesterday and today call themselves women.”
Foreign adoptions of Russian children have dropped significantly since Russia banned Americans from adopting children in 2012, and have virtually stopped completely since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Official statistics show that only six Russian children were adopted by foreigners in 2023, according to the AFP news agency.
According to government statistics cited by Russian media, 358,000 children were in foster care as of the beginning of this year.
