Russia's Duma Unanimously Passes Anti-Gay Rights Law Voting 436-0

Russia's Duma, or lower parliament, voted Tuesday to adopt legislation that would impose monetary fines and jail terms for anybody in the country found guilty of distribution of homosexual "propaganda" to minors.

As the legislation was passed unanimously by a vote of 436-0 with one abstention, police were forced to break up protests and clashes between gay rights advocates and their adversaries outside of the Duma building, according to The Journal Of Turkish Weekly.

"There is already enough pressure and violence against gays and with this law it will only continue and probably get worse," Viktoria Malyasova, 18, told reporters outside the Duma. "I may not be gay but I came to stand up for my rights and the rights of other people to love whom they want." 

Yelena Mizulma, head of the Russian State Duma's Committee for Family, Women and Children, co-authored the bill. She explains that the legislation is a special law aimed at protecting Russian children from information that spreads "nontraditional" values in her country.

"[The bill prohibits] the spreading of information aimed at forming nontraditional sexual attitudes among children, attractiveness of nontraditional sexual relations, or a distorted perception of social equality between traditional and nontraditional sexual relations," she said. "Secondly, [it prohibits] the imposition of information about nontraditional sexual relations that may cause interest in them among children."

LifeSiteNews.com reports that the new law will allow for jail terms of up to three years and fines of up to 500,000 roubles ($15,400 USD) for organizations spreading gay propaganda.

Individuals using the Internet to spread such propaganda can be fined up to 5,000 roubles ($155 USD) and officials can be fined up to 10 times that amount. Foreigners violating these laws may be arrested, detained for up to 15 days, and then deported from the country.

According to The Independent, the legislation will become law if approved by Russia's upper house of parliament and then signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has already reportedly expressed support for it.