Russia: Adoptions by foreign gay couples banned

Adoptions also forbidden to unmarried people from countries where gay marriage is legal

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has issued a decree that implements a ban on adoptions by foreign gay couples and unmarried people in countries that have legalized gay marriage, RIA Novosti reports.

Medvedev’s move comes as the Sochi Games are well underway and months after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off on that law, as well as one that bans “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations among minors.”

According to RIA Novosti, the decree states that “adoptions can be carried out by members of either sex with the exception of . . . people in a union of two people of the same sex that has been registered as a married according to the legislation of their country . . . and also unmarried people in such countries.”

Just prior to the start of the Winter Olympics, Medvedev told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that he had not heard of any complaints from gay people that their rights have been infringed.

In the interview, he says, “I have never met a single application of the so-called non-traditional sexual minorities communities, I mean, Russian, to the authorities, saying that their rights have been violated. But the situation caused some disturbance in other countries. So I believe that this problem is partially non-existent. If we see that the rights of this or that category of our population are violated, doesnt matter which category it is, of course we will have amendments to our laws. But so far, there is no problem about those matters that you speak about, no problem at all.

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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