Last Thursday, lower-level members of the State Duma, Russia’s parliament, unanimously passed a law to ban the distribution of materials promoting homosexuality, pedophilia, and gender reassignment. This new law will impose heavy penalties of up to 10 million rubles ($165,000 USD) on those stimulating such propaganda on online channels, media, or in public. Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin called the U.S. the “center of this sodom in the world” and said the law would protect Russia’s traditional values. The law still needs to be approved by the upper house and President Vladimir Putin.
