Vladimir Putin: Russia may change its law to stop foreign gay couples from adopting our orphans

Apr 26 2013
Written by Joseph McCormick

(Getty)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, has confirmed reports that the country may change its agreements for the foreign adoption of Russian children, in the light of France legalising equal marriage, to prevent gay, married couples from adopting.

In the light of France having passed a bill to legalise equal marriage on Tuesday, Putin again said he was happy to consider changing agreements to block gay couples from adopting Russian orphans.

“I consider it fully correct to make changes to the appropriate documents. It is a current issue and we need to think about it,” said Putin in a meeting with lawmakers, going on to say foreign countries must respect Russia’s “cultural traditions and ethical norms.”

Children’s rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov recently expressed concern about Russian children being adopted by same-sex couples. He said he would do all he could to avoid Russian orphans being adopted by gay couples.

Equal marriage is currently legal in France, Uruguay, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Argentina, with legislation at various stages in other countries.

Turkey also recently started a campaign to retrieve children adopted by people in European countries, who were given to gay and lesban couples.

The Turkish campaign is centred around nine-year-old Yunus, who was taken from his parents, who allegedly dropped him on the ground, and placed in the care of a lesbian couple, in the Netherlands.

Referring to the case, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, described homosexuality as “a sexual preference,” which goes against Islam.

The ruling French Socialist party and their allies on Tuesday, in the lower house of the National Assembly, passed the bill 331 in favour – 225 against, giving same-sex couples the legal right to marry and adopt children.

Last month the Russian children’s rights ombudsman said that allowing French gay couples to adopt Russian orphans would be “unconstitutional”.

France ranks fourth behind the US, Italy and Spain, for highest number of orphans adopted from Russia.

Another law, the Dima Yakovlev, which came into force on 1 January, banned the adoption of Russian children by US citizens.

Back in February, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it was concerned over the fate of an orphaned Russian boy adopted by an American woman in 2007, having learnt that the woman is a lesbian.

The Russian State Duma also recently adopted the first reading of a homophobic censorship bill which would impose federal sanctions for the promotion of “gay propaganda”.

The Russian Prime Minister said that he doesn’t see any reason why homosexuality should be banned legally in the country, and that it is not an big issue for many Russians.