The upper house of Russian parliament approves a ban on gender changes #upper #house #Russian #parliament #approves #ban #gender

MOSCOW (AP) — The upper house of Russia’s parliament on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill outlawing gender-affirming procedures, sending the measure to President Vladimir Putin to be signed into law.

The move extends the Kremlin’s drive to protect what it views as the country’s traditional values.

The bill, which already was approved in the lower house, bans any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records.

Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, left, shakes hands with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a joint news conference at Horodetskyi House in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday July 19, 2023. (Clodagh Kilcoyne/Pool via AP)

Russia unleashed intense overnight drone and missile attacks that officials said damaged critical port infrastructure in southern Ukraine, including grain and oil terminals, and wounded at least 12 people.

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The head of Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency says British spies are already using artificial intelligence to hamper the supply of weapons to Russia.

FILE - In this photo provided by Photo host Agency RIA Novosti, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa gestures while speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin, not in photo, during their talks after a meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, June 17, 2023. South Africa's president said Tuesday, July 18, 2023 that arresting Putin — should he show up at an economic summit next month in Johannesburg — would amount to a “declaration of war” by his country. (Ramil Sitdikov/Photo host Agency RIA Novosti via AP)

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In this photo taken from a video released by Press Service of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, cars drive tore XAZ the Crimean Bridge connecting Russian mainland and Crimean peninsula over the Kerch Strait after opening a reverse traffic in Krasnodar region of south Russia on Tuesday, July 18, 2023. Traffic on the automobile part of the bridge was restored after midnight, the first cars went along the extreme right lane of the Taman-Kerch direction. While traffic is allowed only for cars, trucks are still transported through the ferry crossing. (Press Service of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin via AP)

Ukraine said its forces shot down Russian drones and cruise missiles targeting the Black Sea port of Odesa in what Moscow called “retribution” for an attack that damaged a crucial bridge to the Crimean Peninsula.

The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies.

It also annuls marriages in which one person has “changed gender” and bars transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents.

Lawmakers portray the measure as protecting Russia from “the Western anti-family ideology,” with some describing gender transitioning as “pure satanism.”

Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ people started a decade ago when Putin first proclaimed a focus on “traditional family values,” supported by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 2013, the Kremlin adopted legislation that banned any public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors. In 2020, Putin pushed through a constitutional reform that outlawed same-sex marriage.

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