Russian President Vladimir Putin last week slammed western liberal political ideology for teaching children at young ages about sex change. While at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi on Thursday, Putin gave a speech in which he underscored the "monstrous" act of teaching kids "that a boy can become a girl and vice versa," which he also called "a crime against humanity."
Putin argued upholding the "spiritual values and historical traditions" of Russia while issuing a warning against "sociocultural disturbances" from Western liberals, who he remarked believes in "the aggressive deletion of whole pages of their own history, reverse discrimination against the majority in the interests of minorities...onstitute movement toward public renewal," Breitbart reported.
"It's their right, but we are asking them to steer clear of our home. We have a different viewpoint," the 69 year old Russian leader warned. According to The Hill, Putin was concerned that Western liberals were seeking to abolish designations such as "mother, father, family or gender differences," which he believed were "basic."
This is not the first time the Russian president spoke out against woke liberal ideology and sex change among children. Back in 2013, Putin signed into law an "anti-gay propaganda" measure which sought to protect children from being exposed to LGBT content. Human rights groups and many Western nations reacted negatively to his decision, saying that the law was too vague and discriminatory towards sexual minorities.
Amnesty International argued at the time that Russian law lacked a "legal definition...of what constitutes 'propaganda of homosexuality.'" The group remarked how the law could be "interpreted very loosely" and that the law would "punish people for something which is perfectly legitimate - expressing themselves, being themselves."
The European Court of Human Rights also condemned the law, ruling that the measure violated the European convention on human rights and that it "had reinforced stigma and prejudice and encouraged homophobia, which was incompatible with the values of a democratic society."
Meanwhile in Russia, a publishing house has removed a section on transgender people from a health guide for teenage girls, the Moscow Times reported. The Belaya Vorona publishing house, which publishes the Russian-language edition of a girls' health guide, admitted that they received legal counsel saying that they may face criminal prosecution if the guide titled "Welcome to Your Period!" would be published as is.
In a photo shared by the Podyom news website, the guide was shown to have blank pages with a disclaimer saying, "the publishing house is forced to withhold the text in order to avoid accusations of violating Russian law." The female health guide "Welcome to Your Period!" is written by Yumi Stynes, an Australian journalist and Melissa Kang, a medical doctor, and had a section on transgender people, which was ultimately censored in Russia.
The omission in the guide for girls' health comes at the heels of Russian activist and artist Yulia Tsvetkova's criminal charges after she published body-positive drawings of women with different body types. In 2020, lawmakers in Russia also attempted to draft a bill that bans transgender people from legally changing their gender. Following widespread public outcry, the draft was pulled.
