Russian parliament expected to back sex reassignment surgery ban

Under President Vladimir Putin, Russian lawmakers have increasingly denounced and cracked down on what they call "non-traditional" lifestyles they say are being promoted by the West. The proposed legislation would ban state agencies from changing a person's gender in their personal documents.

Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, is expected to give its initial backing in a vote later on Wednesday to legislation that would ban sex reassignment surgery. Under President Vladimir Putin, Russian lawmakers have increasingly denounced and cracked down on what they call "non-traditional" lifestyles they say are being promoted by the West.

The proposed legislation would ban state agencies from changing a person's gender in their personal documents. In addition to outlawing gender reassignment surgery it would also ban "any medical interventions aimed at shaping a person's primary and secondary sex characteristics," according to a document posted in the Duma's database.

The only exception would be surgery "aimed at treating congenital anomalies in children", the draft legislation said. Parliament last year passed a new law which critics say effectively bans representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in public and in the media.