Russian lawmakers unanimously approved a bill banning all forms of LGBTQ propaganda in a final reading on Thursday.
The legislation passed by the lower house of parliament, the Duma, bars all mention of what authorities deem “gay propaganda” in the media, cinema, books and advertisement.
It also prohibits “the propaganda of paedophilia and sex change”.
If also approved by the upper house of parliament and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, rights groups say it effectively bans all public promotion of LGBTQs in Russia.
Moscow already has a law against propaganda directed at minors regarding LGBTQ relationships. The new bill would broaden that rule to adults.
“Any propaganda of non-traditional relationships will have consequences”, the speaker of the Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, said on social media.
The bill introduces hefty fines of up to 10 million rubles ($165,400) for people who ignore the new ban.
Authorities will be able to block websites that contain prohibited information.
According to the Duma website, it would also ban “the sale of goods containing prohibited information”.
Putin has for years presented himself as the antithesis of Western liberal values.
Putin has spent his rule promoting traditional values. In September he railed against same-sex parents.
“Do we really want here, in our country, in Russia, instead of ‘mum’ and ‘dad’, to have ‘parent number one’, ‘parent number two’ or ‘parent number three’?”, he said in a speech at the Kremlin in September.
“Have they gone completely insane?” he asked.
