Strictly No Homo: Russia Bans Adoption Of Its Citizens By Countries That Support Gay Marriage

British citizens could be barred from
adopting Russian children under a decree
outlawing adoptions from countries with
gay marriage signed by Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev.
The decree, which is dated February 10
but was posted on the Russian
government’s website on Thursday, is
officially intended to “help improve the
procedure for transferring children
without parental care to families of
Russian and foreign citizens, and to
protect the rights and interests of these
children.”
The amendments to the Russian adoption
law that were signed by Mr Medvedev
include a bar on adoptions by “those in a
same-sex union recognized as a marriage
and registered an accordance with the
law of states in which such marriage is
allowed, and also citizens of such states
who are not married.”
The new wording of the law suggests that
married heterosexual couples from
countries that allow gay marriage will not
be affected by the changes, though
Russian media reported the law as a
blanket ban.
The decree brings the Russian
government’s guidelines into line with a
federal law passed by the Russian
parliament in June last year that banned
adoptions by gay couples.
An explanatory note that accompanied
last year’s law said the aim was to
“protect children’s psyche and
consciousness from the potential
undesirable effects of artificial exposure
to unconventional sexual relationships,
and also from forming the complexes,
mental suffering and stresses that
research by psychologists suggests often
affect children of same-sex parents”.
Russian law previously allowed unmarried
Russian or foreign citizens to adopt after
undergoing background checks.
While the decree does not mention
countries by name, gay marriage is
currently legal in 15 countries, including
France, Spain and Canada.
Legislation allowing same sex marriage in
England and Wales was passed in July last
year and will come into force in March.
The Holyrood parliament approved same
sex marriage in Scotland earlier this
month.
Citizens of the United States have been
banned from adopting Russian orphans
since January 2013, under a package of
laws named after Dima Yakolev, a Russian
child who died in 2008 after his American
adoptive parents left in a parked car for
nine hours.