MOSCOW — A member of the Russian Parliament, who last week said he planned to introduce a bill that would deny gay parents custody over their children, said he would rather a child be an orphan than be raised by gays.
In a wide ranging interview Monday with Russian magazine Slon, Alexei Zhuravlev said his bill is designed to protect children from “thieves, sinners, and corrupters.”
Zhuravlev’s draft bill, published on parliament’s website last week, states that the “fact of nontraditional sexual orientation” should be a basis for denying custody of children by their parents. The proposed legislative language of the bill, an amendment to the Russian Federal Family Code, also cited other grounds, including alcoholism, drug use, and abuse.
“It occurred to me that since we have a law explicitly prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality among minors, the Family Code should be amended in such a way that that if a husband or a wife professes a non-traditional sexual orientation, they should be deprived of their parental rights,” he said.
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In June, Russian President Vlamir Putin signed the “propaganda” law which prohibits distribution of any information with the “intention” of persuading minors that nontraditional sexual relationships are “attractive” or “interesting,” or even “socially equivalent to traditional relationships.”
“The purpose of this would be to restrict the influence of such a person on his or her own children,” said Zhuravlev.
Zhuravlev also remarked that he supports another anti-gay law signed by Putin, banning any country with marriage equality from adopting from Russia
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“If negotiations regarding policy affairs mean that our streets should have gay parades marching around, I am categorically against international relations of that kind and shall speak out against them.”
Zhuravlev also said that he believes if a single mother was found to be gay, placing the child in an orphanage “would be an appropriate action” and that she should “definitely be deprived of her rights to the child.”
“Homosexuals must not raise children.,” he said. “They corrupt them. They do them much more harm than if the child were in an orphanage. I am deeply convinced of this.”