Kazakhstan follows Russia in banning ‘LGBTQ propaganda’

By Catherine Nicholls and Anna Chernova, CNN

(CNN) — Kazakhstan’s lower parliament pushed ahead with anti-LGBTQ legislation Wednesday that appears to mirror Russian law, as the country’s president met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

The new measures would ban the “dissemination of information containing propaganda of pedophilia and/or non-traditional sexual orientation” in public spaces, through media or online, the parliament, known as the Mäjilis, said in a press statement.

This proposed ban is designed to “protect children from content harmful to their health and development,” according to the statement.

The package of legislation would still have to be approved by Kazakhstan’s Senate before becoming law. The ruling party of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who is in Moscow for talks with Putin this week, dominates the Mäjilis.

Kazakhstan is one of Moscow’s closest allies in Central Asia and the move echoes Russia’s 2022 ban on what it calls LGBTQ “propaganda,” which prohibits citizens from promoting or “praising” homosexual relationships or publicly suggesting that they are “normal.” That legislation expanded the scope of a 2013 law that forbade the dissemination of LGBTQ-related information to minors.

Kazakh LGBTQ rights defenders have condemned the proposed legislation and accused the country’s leaders of pandering to Russia.

“Are we an independent and sovereign republic, or are we a colony of the Russian Federation?” activist Zhanar Sekerbayeva asked at a press conference last week.

“As an educated and intelligent woman… I cannot understand why (lawmakers) allow themselves to violate the fundamental law of the constitution,” she said.

Human rights groups have also condemned the Mäjilis’ ban on so-called “LGBTQ propaganda,” stating that the measures will not protect children and instead will breach individuals’ rights and encourage discrimination.

Seven international human rights groups including Human Rights Watch released a statement on Tuesday before the legislation was advanced, saying that it “blatantly violate(s) Kazakhstan’s international human rights commitments, including children’s rights to education, health, and information.”

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said Tuesday that the likely ban is “about institutionalizing stigma, fear and censorship,”

“If the Kazakhstani authorities truly want to protect and nurture young people, they should rebuff this harmful initiative and instead reaffirm the country’s commitment to human rights and principles of non-discrimination already enshrined in the constitution and other binding legislation,” Struthers said.

The EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community also condemned the legislation, calling it a “deliberate attempt to dehumanize our communities, justify discrimination, and open the door to further repression.”

“These narratives echo the most harmful pro-Russian ultraconservative rhetoric spreading across the region,” the organization said.

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