Originally from The Journal of Eurasian Law (JEL)

Russia’s recent law banning “homosexual propaganda” to minors has been the subject of protests across Europe and the U.S. The School of Russian and Asian Studies, in an attempt to contribute to and encourage informed discussion of the issue, and as part of our efforts to educate our own students about the law, has had the original legislation translated to English.

The legislation is presented below, in its entirety, in both the original Russian and English translation. Note that much of the relatively short law is devoted to legal language on amending other laws. The main parts of the text actually addressing the subject of the new law are summed up in four paragraphs at the end of section 3. There are worth repeating here:

Propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors, manifested in the distribution of information aimed at forming non-traditional sexual orientations, the attraction of non-traditional sexual relations, distorted conceptions of the social equality of traditional and non-traditional sexual relations among minors, or imposing information on non-traditional sexual relations which evoke interest in these kinds of relations—if these actions are not punishable under criminal law—will be subject to administrative fines: for private citizens in the amount of 4,000—5,000 rubles; for administrative officials, 40,000—50,000 rubles; for legal entities, 800,000—1,000,000 rubles or suspension of business activities for up to 90 days.