The first transgender politician in Russia, the former head of the branch of the Civil Initiative party in the Altai Territory, Yulia Aleshina, refused to participate in the elections for the governor of the region. She announced this in her Telegram channel.
She stated that she was unable to collect the required number of signatures in support of her candidacy due to the law adopted in the country banning "sex change".
According to Aleshina, on July 9, a meeting of the regional branch of the Civil Initiative party in the Altai Territory was held. To participate in the elections, a candidate for governor, according to the regional rule, needs to collect 502 signatures of municipal deputies and village heads. However, only 19 municipal deputies expressed their readiness to sign for Alyoshin.
“Many municipal deputies and village heads expressed their readiness to sign, but subsequently began to refuse, referring to the bill on a complete ban on gender reassignment, which is under consideration in the State Duma and has already been adopted in the first reading.”
Due to the new law and the political situation in Russia, Alyoshina did not name the Mundeps who wanted to sign in her support.
“Shame on the State Duma, which introduced a “municipal filter” in the elections of governors and mayors of cities!” Aleshina concluded.
On June 14, the State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill banning "sex change" (this is the wording used by the authorities to describe certain stages of the transgender transition) through a surgical operation and changes in the passport. The State Duma has already made a statement that “sex change is a myth”, an exception is provided only for children with congenital anomalies. Experts working with LGBTQ+ people explained to The Insider that the State Duma uses the incorrect and transphobic term “sex change”, and also wants to adopt the toughest version of the bill, which will ban absolutely everything for transgender people: from changing documents to surgical procedures. This will eventually lead to the emergence of an underground surgical market and an increase in cases of gender dysphoria (stress and feelings of dissatisfaction with the assigned gender role).
On October 27, the State Duma adopted in the first reading a law on the ban on "gay propaganda", according to which the authorities will be able to consider anything they want as "gay propaganda" at their discretion. It will be considered a violation of the law to show films where there is homosexual relations or their mention.