Russia bans Same-Sex Marriage

On the 15​ of July, Russia declared a de facto ban on same-sex marriage; a decision supported by more than two-thirds of Russian voters who agreed that marriage is “exclusively a union between one man and one woman”. Putin closely identifies himself with the Russian Orthodox Church and is bent on distancing Russia from Western values but he fails to see the utter ignorance in his decision to ban same-sex marriage and adoption. He is essentially failing to recognize the identity of an entire community by criminalizing their existence. This decision will not only put Russia back by decades in terms of progressiveness but also increase anti-LGBTQ+ violence to a great extent. For Putin this is simply another decision he’s making to secure his position in the Kremlin, but for the thousands of people questioning their sexuality and gender it’s a lifetime of internalized homophobia and oppression. No political party in Russia supports same-sex marriage and Putin himself has openly opposed LGBTQ+ rights, including referring to gay people as “genderless and infertile”. They are endorsing the dangerous rhetoric that the sole purpose of our existence is to reproduce, ignoring the nuances of sexuality, love, asexuality, gender, and the complexity of human relationships. In 2013 Putin also signed a federal law “for the Purpose of Protecting Children and from Information Advocating for a Denial of Traditional Family Values”, popularly known as the “Gay Propaganda Law” in English media and it basically states that the purpose of this law is to protect children from being exposed to homosexuality in any shape or form. Lack of representation in media leads to emotional repression in LGBTQ+ children who often feel like there is something “wrong” with them. What children see on TV is such a formative part of their childhood and when the only LGBTQ+ representation comes from mocking their existence, it alters their perception of themselves and often leads to feelings of shame and hatred. In a world that’s growing increasingly more accepting, banning same-sex marriage is an extremely uneducated and harmful decision.