In Kazakhstan, deputies of the Majilis, the lower house of parliament, passed amendments to legislation banning so-called “LGBT propaganda” on 12 November.
The amendments were initiated by a group of 18 parliamentarians, who explained the need for the new norms by defending children and teenagers from information that could “negatively affect their idea of family and morality,” the Kazakh service of Radio Liberty reported.
The amendments “prohibit the dissemination in public space, as well as through the media, telecommunications networks and online platforms, of information containing propaganda of paedophilia and/or non-traditional sexual orientation”.
According to Majilis deputy Elnur Beisenbayev, the amendments do not limit the rights of people with LGBT identities, but only establish a framework for the public dissemination of such information in the media, online platforms and telecommunication networks. He said the norms “are aimed at an educational impact” and are “in line with international child protection practice”. According to parliamentarians, the law regulates only the public information space and does not concern the private life of citizens.
Some international human rights organisations criticised the bill, arguing that it violates human rights and could lead to administrative penalties for sexual orientation. They also noted that the draft law is essentially a tracing of Russian legislation banning “LGBT propaganda.” The deputies rejected these criticisms.
The amendments were approved unanimously. The legislation will come into force as part of the project “On introducing amendments and additions to some legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on issues of archival business.” The bill will now go to the Senate for consideration and then to the President for signature.
Russia first passed a law banning “LGBT propaganda” for minors. Then “propaganda”, i.e. references to LGBT in a context other than negative, was banned outright, and later the non-existent “international LGBT movement” was recognised as extremist. In Russia, because of this, films are censored, songs are banned and resources that talk about the camming-outs of athletes or other famous personalities are fined. There are known cases of criminal prosecution of people.