Russia gives preliminary approval to anti-gay bill

gaywrites:

The lower house of the Russian Parliament on Friday overwhelmingly approved a measure to ban “gay propaganda” in the country. The bill must be approved two more times and signed by the president before it becomes law, but it has been widely endorsed and its momentum is discouraging.

“We are deeply concerned by this draft legislation,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, according to the AFP. “You know how strongly we feel about LGBT rights around the world, how strongly the secretary of state personally feels that nobody should be discriminated against for who they love.”

The so-called gay propaganda bill is a national version of one that has already been adopted by the city of St. Petersburg. Members of the State Duma voted 388 to 1 in favor of the bill, with one abstention, the Associated Press reports. The legislation must go through two more approvals and be signed by President Vladimir Putin in order to become law. Language in the bill denounces “mass media and public events that propagate homosexuality as normal behavior” and says minors cannot think critically and objectively about such information.

Oh boy. We’re in for a fight with this one.

Bad news. Read up on this, all.