What is in the bill
The bill introduces amendments to five federal laws: “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection”, “On the Mass Media”, “On State Support for the Cinematography of the Russian Federation”, “On Advertising”, “On the Protection of Children from Harmful Information their health and development.
The first change is that the word “cult” disappears from the laws (except for the law on cinema), that is, they will be punished not for materials “promoting the cult of violence and cruelty”, but for materials “promoting violence and cruelty”. In fact, this means a ban on broadcasting in the media and public sources of any content that reports violence and cruelty. For example, materials that tell about torture by the Federal Penitentiary Service in colonies, or articles about domestic violence. The Insider wrote more about this here .
The next change is the appearance of the line itself about “non-traditional” relationships. Previously, it was only in the law "On the protection of children from information harmful to their health and development." Now, in almost all laws subject to change, the line about the promotion of violence, cruelty and obscene language will be supplemented with the words “as well as materials that promote non-traditional sexual relations and (or) preferences.” The words “and (or) preferences” are also new. Previously, this line ended with “relations”, but now the State Duma has completely untied its hands. There is no definition of what constitutes "non-traditional preferences" in the document.
Also, the definition of “prohibited” information has changed in the law “On the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development”. Now this is not only something that promotes non-traditional sexual relations, but also something that simply demonstrates them. The wording fundamentally changes the law and gives more scope for punishment. Another definition of “forbidden” information that appeared in this law is “capable of causing children to want to change their sex.” There is no definition of what kind of content this could be.
There is no definition of what “non-traditional preferences” means in the document.
The biggest innovation concerns the restriction of minors' access to "forbidden" information. State Duma deputies plan to do this with the help of special codes: those who have reached the age of 18 will have to enter them in order to gain access to "forbidden" television and radio programs. Those over 16 but under 18 are allowed to consume content that contains "swear words and/or language that do not refer to swearing" and "non-sexually exploitative or offensive images or descriptions" sexual relations between a man and a woman, with the exception of images or descriptions of acts of a sexual nature. In both cases, access to programs should be carried out exclusively on a paid basis.
And finally, the amount of fines has changed. For “LGBT propaganda” they now range from 50,000 to 400,000 rubles for individuals, from 100,000 to 800,000 for officials, from 800,000 to 5 million or suspension of activities for up to 90 days for legal entities.
What is not in the bill
Some prohibitions that are not in the bill, its authors invent on the go in public statements and media comments. So, on the website of the State Duma, in the news about the bill, it is indicated that the deputies propose to introduce punishment not only for propaganda, but also for justifying non-traditional sexual relations. What “justification” means, the authors of the publication do not explain. There is no such clause in the bill.
As mentioned above, the law "On the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development" includes a wording that prohibits not only propaganda, but simply demonstrations. But the authors of the bill themselves, apparently, do not know about it. So, Alexander Khinshtein stated that the law does not imply a complete ban on LGBT relations – only a ban on their propaganda:
“We do not ban LGBT people as a phenomenon. We do not put a ban on the mention of it. We are only saying that propaganda – that is, positive promotion, praise, theses that this is normal, and maybe even better than traditional sexual relations, should be banned.
“We are talking about propaganda, this is not about people who have a non-traditional orientation – they have lived and will continue to live,” said Nina Ostanina, head of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children. She also reported on another consequence that awaits Russia if the law is adopted: the closure of gay clubs. The text of the bill does not contain this information, but, according to the deputy, "gay clubs are nothing but propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations." At the same time, Ostanina says that "no one is going to catch gays, forbid them to engage in the pleasures that they allow themselves."
Legal Analysis
Not all State Duma deputies voted for the adoption of the bill in the first reading. In particular, Ksenia Goryacheva, a deputy from the New People, spoke out against it. Several users posted on Twitter her official response to their inquiries about the reasons for her no vote. Goryacheva confirmed the authenticity of the document to The Insider.
The MP also notes that the law does not provide any definitions for either “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” or “non-traditional preferences”, which will also be banned now. According to Goryacheva, the executive authorities and courts will independently give definitions. And for "non-traditional preferences", in this way, they can judge, for example, a girl who built a career, and only after 30 she decided to start a family. Her statement about this can be interpreted as "propaganda of non-traditional preferences."
The same applies to information that can make children want to change sex – the law does not provide for the involvement of relevant experts: sexologists and psychiatrists.
According to lawyer Maxim Olenichev, who works with LGBT people, pending laws are draft wartime laws that deal with a non-existent threat.
“This gives the state the opportunity to officially, on the basis of the adopted laws, close the media still operating in Russia, put pressure on civil activists and people who have a different point of view, imposing huge fines on them for non-existent “gay propaganda”. I believe these bills are acts of wartime censorship, along with laws to discredit the armed forces and fakes about a "special military operation." However, the adopted bills go further – they make several million people invisible.
The deputies propose to ban the dissemination of “information promoting non-traditional sexual relations and (or) preferences” not only among minors, but also among adults. And since the concept of "non-traditional sexual relations" is not defined by any legal act, there is a reasonable fear that the law will be applied arbitrarily – in relation to any information about LGBT representatives. Judicial practice in the application of the law banning "gay propaganda" among minors often recognized as propaganda information that referred to LGBT people, no matter in what way – positive or negative.
In addition, the authors of the bills want to ban not only "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations", but also "preferences". But they do not give definitions of these concepts; there is no definition of the term “preference” in the legislation either. It is not known what exactly the deputies want to prohibit by the proposed legal norm. The bills under consideration do not eliminate legal uncertainty either. This indicates that the deputies do not have a clear idea of what is behind the introduced term. This means that the law can be applied arbitrarily.
As for the words of Ostanina and the closure of gay clubs: the bills do not contain such a ban. By themselves, gay clubs cannot be interpreted as "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations or preferences." This is a platform, the purpose of which is to provide a recreation and entertainment area.
As I have already mentioned, the extremely vague, vague terms used in bills, in practice, can lead to arbitrary law enforcement, where the question of what constitutes “gay propaganda” will be decided by individual judges and police officers, based on their ideas about it, and not from criteria to be established by law. But, alas, they are not. Therefore, whether the bills under consideration will be applied to gay clubs in the future is an open question that lies not in the field of the law, but in the sphere of stereotypes and prejudices of those people who will try to apply the law and hold accountable for its violation.
What constitutes "gay propaganda" will be decided by the judges and the police.
We do not know how the state will apply the bills when they become laws. The current “gay propaganda” law has not been frequently enforced in the courts. According to the official statistics of the Supreme Court, during the 9 years of the existence of the law on “gay propaganda among minors”, no more than 100 such cases have been considered. So, in 2020, 8 persons were brought to administrative responsibility, in 2021 – 6 persons (1 organization, 1 head of the organization and 4 citizens), in the first half of 2022 – 6 people. There is no increase in such offenses in Russia. However, its [law] effect was the stigmatization of LGBT people, the increase in violence against them and the increase in the number of cases of discrimination precisely because of being identified as LGBT.”