Kazakhstan’s lower house of parliament pushed forward an anti-LGBTQ bill on Wednesday that appears to mirror Russian law, as the country’s president met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
The parliament, known as the Majlis, said in a press statement that the new measures will ban “the dissemination of information containing propaganda of pedophilia and non-traditional sexual orientation” in public spaces through the media and online.
The proposed ban aims to “protect children from content that is harmful to their health and development,” the statement said.
In order for this set of bills to become law, it must be approved by the Senate of Kazakhstan. The ruling party of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who is in Moscow this week for talks with President Putin, dominates the Majlis.
Kazakhstan is one of Moscow’s closest allies in Central Asia, and the move reflects a ban on what Russia calls LGBTQ “propaganda” in 2022, banning its citizens from promoting or “glorifying” homosexual relationships or publicly suggesting that same-sex relationships are “normal.” The law expanded the scope of a 2013 law that prohibited the distribution of LGBTQ-related information to minors.
LGBTQ rights advocates in Kazakhstan denounced the proposed law and accused the country’s leaders of pandering to Russia.
“Are we an independent sovereign republic or a colony of the Russian Federation?” activist Zanar Sekerbayeva asked at a press conference last week.
“As an educated and intelligent woman, I cannot understand why (legislators) would allow this to violate the fundamental laws of the Constitution,” she said.
Human rights groups also condemned the Majlis’ ban on so-called “LGBTQ propaganda,” saying the measure does not protect children but instead violates individual rights and encourages discrimination.
Seven international human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, issued a statement on Tuesday before the bill was introduced, saying it “clearly violates Kazakhstan’s international human rights commitments, including the child’s rights to education, health, and information.”
Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia director, said on Tuesday that the potential ban was “about institutionalizing stigma, fear and censorship”.
“If Kazakh authorities truly want to protect and develop young people, they should reject this harmful initiative and instead reaffirm the country’s commitment to human rights and the principles of non-discrimination, which are already enshrined in the constitution and other legally binding laws,” Struthers said.
The EuroCentralAsian lesbian* community also condemned the bill as a “deliberate attempt to dehumanize our community, legitimize discrimination, and open the door to further oppression.”
“These statements reflect the most virulent pro-Russian ultra-conservative rhetoric across the region,” the group said.
