Duma bars Russian children from adoption by foreign same sex couples

RT.com – June 18, 2013

Russia’s Lower House has passed an amendment that bans the adoption of Russian children by same sex couples from abroad.

The amendment was passed on Tuesday as the State Duma approved  the second reading of the bill to protect orphans.

The amendment also forbids single people who are citizens or  permanent residents of countries that allow same sex marriage to  become adoptive parents or legal guardians of Russian children.

Russia itself does not allow same sex marriage and the country’s  authorities have passed a number of regional and federal bills  banning the promotion of gay and other “non-traditional” sex to  minors – a move considered as discriminative by a large part of  society.

Another related move was the adoption in late 2012 of the so  called ‘Dima Yakovlev Law‘ – an extensive act that  forbids, among other things, the adoption of Russian children by  US citizens or by proxy of US organizations. Russia said it was  prompted by a number of cases where US authorities refused or  failed to cooperate in the investigation of cruelty or even death  of adopted Russian children by their US adoptive parents.

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