PM opposes gay laws

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said he opposes a proposed national gay ‘propaganda’ law, similar to one passed in the city of St. Petersburg. He told journalists last week that the bill was unnecessary.

”Not every moral issue, behavioural habit or communication issue between people should be regulated,” he said.

“This is why not all relationships between people are subject to a legal interpretation.

“Probably this issue does not concern too many people in the country, and it’s not discussed at all levels.”

St. Petersburg and the Russian states of Arkhangelsk, Ryazan and Kostroma already have similar anti-gay laws already in place. Russia’s lower house of Parliament will consider a draft of a national gay propaganda bill in the coming weeks.

Soviet-era laws that criminalised homosexuality were repealed in 1993, but gay pride parades are regularly banned throughout the country and have often been violently broken up by police or been met with anti-gay protests.