Russia tightens gay adoption ban
MOSCOW, February 18, 2014 –After Belgium’s Parliament passed a bill last week allowing children to be euthanized, a Russian politician is urging his government to consider outlawing adoption to the country.
The news comes mere days after the Russian government passed a law forbidding the adoption of Russian children by same-sex couples and by single people who live in countries where same-sex “marriage” is legal.
“The Russians are to be congratulated for taking a lead in the world in protecting children,” Gwen Landolt, vice-president of REAL Women of Canada, said in an interview with LifeSiteNews.
Roman Khudyakov, a member of the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, has requested the Russian Foreign Ministry to investigate the Belgian euthanasia law’s implications for children adopted to that country, reports RT, a Russian new agency.
In 2013, approximately 5,700 Russian children were adopted by foreigners, according to Adoption Today. In 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin made headlines when he signed a bill forbidding adoptions to the US. This was largely seen as an act of political retaliation for the American government’s criticism of Russia’s human rights record. The US had been adopting about 1,000 Russian children per year before the ban came into effect.
If the US were to follow Belgium’s euthanasia expansion—and that contemplated in Quebec—even more of the approximately 120,000 Russian children awaiting adoption could be permanently denied adoption. This is an aspect of the euthanasia debate that has received little consideration.
The Russian position on homosexual adoption has received a great deal of criticism from the West, but Landolt defended it.
“The Russian government has been very consistent, in that the major objective has been to protect vulnerable children,” she said. “And they have consistently done so with regard to homosexual propaganda so that children won’t be entering into those relationships that leads to tragedy and death often. This [adoption law] is just an extension of their concern for children.”
Landolt referred to a study published in the Review of Economics of the Household by Douglas W. Allen that suggested children raised in same-sex homes were much less likely to graduate high school. “The question is, what is going on in those homes? The Russians are very conscientious to ask why this is.”
