Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new law that bans any medical interventions aimed at changing a person’s sex. The only exception is surgery to treat reproductive organ deformities in children. The law also prohibits the amendment of official documents to reflect a gender transition and prevents individuals who have undergone sex-change surgery from becoming adoptive parents or guardians. Additionally, the legislation allows for the annulment of a marriage if either spouse undergoes a sex change.
The law is intended to counteract the gender transition trend seen in the West, particularly the significant increase in gender transition surgeries over the past decade. Russian lawmakers aim to prevent the degradation of their nation by avoiding this cultural shift. According to State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, gender transition surgeries in the United States have increased by 50 times in the last ten years.
Supporters of the law argue that it protects the country from Western anti-family ideology. Studies have shown that there is no mental health benefit from gender-affirming surgery compared to a control group. In fact, research covering three decades found that individuals who underwent such surgeries were 19 times more likely to die from suicide compared to the general population.
This law follows Russia’s previous ban on pro-LGBT material for children. Putin has been positioning Russia as a defender of traditional values in contrast to what he perceives as the moral decline of the West. He has criticized Western adoption of attitudes that are contrary to human nature and lead to degeneration and degradation.