Russia outlaws same-sex marriages after vote to change constitution

SAME-SEX couples in Russia are frustrated by a recent constitutional change stipulating that marriage is between a man and a woman.

The July 1 decision to approve a series of constitutional proposals means they will not be allowed rights common for married couples. These include the right to refuse to give evidence against their partner in court and the right to automatically inherit from each other.

One couple, Irina and Anastasia Lagutenko, held their own personal same-sex ceremony and have a son Dorian, born to Irina. However,

Anastasia cannot become a legal guardian to the 21-month-old.

“I want to have the same legal rights for the child,” Anastasia said. “We went all the way of the pregnancy and the childbirth together, and now, I am 100 per cent involved in the process of upbringing, and I consider him mine,” she said.

Although Russia decriminalised homosexuality decades ago, animosity against gay people remains high.

In 2012, the Moscow city government banned gay pride parades for the next 100 years. In 2013, the parliament passed a law forbidding “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships” among minors.

Attacks on the gay community persist. Last summer, the murder in St Petersburg of Yelena Grigoryeva, an LGBT activist, made national headlines. Dozens of other activists received death threats from an antigay group that claimed responsibility for the killing of Ms Grigoryeva.

In 2017, reports of extrajudicial arrests, torture and killings of gay men in the republic of Chechnya drew international condemnation.

Max Olenichev, a lawyer with the Coming Out gay rights group, said there are instances of tolerance by some courts but he is concerned the constitutional changes will encourage anti-gay views.

“Our society really looks up to what the government does, so any kinds of public actions promoting homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, many people may perceive as a call for action,” he said. “And we believe there will be more hate speech and hate crimes, and that LGBT people will suffer more violence.”

Pyotr Tolstoy, a parliament member who supported the changes to the constitution, says Russia was “a stronghold of traditionalism”, reflecting the view the country is under siege from foreign influences.

The amendments will allow Russia “not to repeat the mistakes that exist in the West”, he said.

President Vladimir Putin has rejected criticism of the constitutional amendments and the gay propaganda law.

He said that in some countries, “criminal law provisions still exist under which people of non-traditional sexual orientation can be persecuted criminally, as it was in the Soviet Union. We don’t have anything similar to that”.

Mr Tolstoy rejects the idea the provision outlawing same-sex marriages in the constitution promotes intolerance. “In our country, people are tolerant to all communities, as long they don’t demand any special rights,” he said.