Putin instructed to create an institute of psychiatry to study LGBT people

Vladimir Putin ordered the creation of an institute for studying the behavior of LGBT people on the basis of the federal center of psychiatry. This was stated by the head of the Ministry of Health, Mikhail Murashko, during a session of the State Duma, which was considering a draft law on banning “gender reassignment” in Russia. Later, the document was unanimously adopted in the first reading.

“Meduza” publication, referring to representatives of the LGBT community, notes that “Murashko’s statement may indicate that in Russia they want to introduce violent conversion therapy – a set of pseudoscientific violent psychological and physical practices, with the help of which it is allegedly possible to “cure” non-heterosexual orientation In the UN, such methods are equated with torture.”

The draft law on the prohibition of “sex change”, submitted to the State Duma, completely excludes the possibility of transgender transition with the help of surgical operations. Such operations, if the document is accepted, will be allowed only for the “treatment of congenital physiological anomalies of sex formation in children”, and for this, a corresponding decision of the medical commission of the state health care institution will be required. Legal change of the gender marker is also proposed to be prohibited.

Human rights activists and a number of doctors sharply criticize the draft law. They believe that this will lead to an increase in the number of mental disorders and suicides, as well as the emergence of a black market for underground medical services.

• According to the annual ranking of the European human rights organization ILGA-Europe, in 2022 Russia took one of the last places on the continent in terms of political and legal protection of the rights of LGBTQ+ people. Only Turkey and Azerbaijan were ranked below Russia.
• In December 2022, Vladimir Putin signed a law prohibiting “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations, pedophilia and gender reassignment.” Since 2013, “propaganda” among minors has been banned in Russia, but now the ban extends to all Russians. In fact, the law introduced a taboo on the discussion of homosexuality and transgenderism in any, other than negative, context.