The law against the “propaganda” of “non-traditional” sexual relations is debated. In the eyes of the Orthodox Church, the LGBT issue is “an instrument of invasion of the collective West in a hybrid war against Russia.” Soon there will be more proposals for restrictions and punishments for the “messengers of Satan”.
Moscow () – A bill for the total prohibition of any type of information that could be interpreted as a form of propaganda of “non-traditional” sexual relations is being debated in the State Duma. Deputies, senators, government officials, representatives of society and the ecclesiastical world of Russia participate in the debate.
No one spoke out in favor of non-traditional values. Instead, all speakers insisted on the danger of LGBT propaganda, associating it in particular with the circumstances of the war in Ukraine, which President Putin further dramatized by declaring a “national emergency situation”: in practice, the condition explicit of a state of war.
Russian politicians reiterate a concept proclaimed by Moscow Patriarch Kirill after the start of the Ukraine invasion, namely that such propaganda represents “the collective West’s instrument of invasion in a hybrid war against Russia.” The Orthodox Church openly approves of the ongoing procedure, calling it a “victory in the war against the evil one.” The project had originally been presented in June by the president of the Parliamentary Commission for Family Affairs, Nina Ostanina, of the Communist Party (KPRF), to stop the spread of unwanted ideals on the Internet and in all media.
The proposal also includes the suspension of licenses for film projections that reproduce content related to homosexuality and non-traditional unions. Now the text has been completed with a new package of measures, drawn up by the head of the Information Policy Committee, Aleksandr Khinstein, of United Russia, which provides for heavy fines for citizens who engage in acts of LGBT propaganda: from 50 thousand to 400 thousand rubles (between 1,000 and 8,000 euros); from 100,000 to 800,000 if they are state officials; and from 800 thousand to 5 million for legal entities, with interruption of activities for a period of up to 90 days.
Duma Speaker Vjačeslav Volodin underlined that the issue is particularly topical, basing himself on recent surveys by the Vtsiom institute, according to which the number of citizens who have had to deal with LGBT propaganda in the last ten years has doubled: in 2012, 6% of respondents had reported these situations, this year the percentage rose to 12%. For his part, Khinstein confirmed that, since the beginning of the special military operation (read invasion), the prohibition of this type of propaganda “has not only not lost relevance, but has taken on an even more evident and decisive meaning.” “It is clear that our opposition to the West largely takes on the meaning of a clash of civilizations,” he added. And in this confrontation, “Russia remains the fortress of defense and custody of traditional values.”
According to the deputies, a huge “LGBT revolution” is underway in the West, in which “homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals occupy the most important positions of power and command functions of the States, while propaganda becomes an incessant claim, and it becomes the norm even in children’s stories,” Khinstein further explained. The new law aims to prohibit unwanted expressions not only in the field of communication aimed at children, but also towards all citizens of any age and social status. In addition, it prohibits the propaganda of pedophilia and sex change.
Speaking about how to distinguish propaganda from mere artistic expression, Volodin gave the example of Nabokov’s book “Lolita”, in which “there is no propaganda for pedophilia, because no reader wants to repeat the fate of the hero.” The representative of the Moscow Patriarchate, Protoierej Andrej Tkačev, recalled that “sin is not a private matter”, and sinners “spread the stench of their degradation far beyond the confines of their bedrooms”. Soon there will be more proposals for restrictions and punishments for the “messengers of Satan”, until the “final victory” is reached.
