“In this regard, we have developed a bill that proposes to prohibit the adoption of a child for foreign citizens if their state allows gender change both through the production of appropriate documents and through the use of medical and all kinds of forms of intervention,” said Vasily Piskarev.

The Patriarchal Commission on Family Issues, Protection of Motherhood and Childhood proposed introducing such a ban in July. You can change your gender in 67 countries, including Iran, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, China, Turkey, and Thailand.

Vasily Piskarev argues that such a ban is completely justified, since it cannot be guaranteed that an adopted child will not end up in a same-sex family if one of the parents changes gender. “At the same time, I would like to note that by introducing this ban on the adoption of such children by foreign citizens, in fact, we are introducing a ban on the adoption of children by countries NATOsince most countries that allow adoption and same-sex marriage are NATO countries,” noted Mr. Piskarev.

Vasily Piskarev also announced the preparation of a bill on mandatory genetic examination for foreign citizens, including Ukrainians, who want to take their children from special children’s institutions in regions annexed to Russia. “We could introduce these bills from all members of our commission. And since we all represent different factions here, our legislative intervention in these, in my opinion, very important issues will be very effective,” the deputy added.

In July State Duma adopted a law banning gender change at will (the ban applies to both primary and secondary sexual characteristics). The law also has a provision that prohibits people who have changed their gender marker from adopting children.

US citizens were banned from adopting children from Russia in 2012 (this ban is known as the “Dima Yakovlev Law”). In August 2022, a bill was introduced to the State Duma banning adoption to families from “unfriendly” countries. The explanatory note stated that the transfer of children to “unfriendly” countries is “a blow to the future of the nation,” since “the ‘collective West’ is destroying traditional values.” However, this initiative was not supported by the presidential council.

Anastasia Larina