A member of Russian president Vladimir Putin's ruling party tabled a draft law on Thursday to take children away from homosexual parents, adding to a series of measures that activists say are undermining gay rights.
The draft law, which follows legislation banning gay "propaganda", would add homosexuality to a list of conditions including drug and child abuse that can lead to parents being stripped of custody over their children.
The proposal highlights the more hardline course on social issues that Putin has charted in his third presidential term as he seeks to boost support among conservative voters.
"In the case when a parent has sexual contact with people of their own gender, the damage that can be inflicted on the psyche of a child is enormous," Alexei Zhuravlyov, author of the draft, wrote in submitting it to the Russian parliament's lower house, the Duma. He said between 5% and 7% of people across Russia were of "non-traditional" sexual orientation and at least a third of those had children.
It was not clear if Zhuravlyov's proposal had a strong chance of becoming law, but it follows other legislation signed by Putin that rights activists and western governments say are discriminatory against homosexuals. » | Reuters in Moscow | Thursday, September 05, 2013
