'Carte blanche for violence': Russia’s gender-affirming surgery ban clears first hurdle

18 July 2023

A newly passed ban on gender-affirming care in Russia, if approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is expected to threaten many lives, The Daily Beast reports.

The Beast spoke with a handful of Russian citizens whose "health might be ruined" if the law moves forward.

Milana Romanova, 18, " who was in the process of transition" when the bill was passed, told the news outlet she has "no doubt Putin will pass the law. "This is Russia, and then none of us will have any access to professional medical help and society will know it's OK to eliminate us," she said.

The Beast reports:

Until recently, Russians wishing to legally change their gender had to interact with psychiatrists, municipal authorities, draft officers and sometimes judges. But there was a legal route to transition. On Monday, Russian transgender people’s closed chat on Telegram for over 1,000 Russian trans people was bubbling with updates on which psychiatrist to run to get the most-desirable F-64 certificate, a diagnose of 'transsexualism.' Then, based on that certificate, one could get a passport changed.

Romanova told the news outlet the new law will "only encourage more violence and more transgender people will attempt to commit suicide."

The Beast further notes:

Even before the new law, Russian transgender people have been victims of violence. A group of thugs attacked two young transgender people, Melody and her friend, when they walked home in the city of Yekaterinburg in 2016. 'They beat us terribly. I still have a scar on my face, but my friend had many more scars; a few days later she walked out of the window on the 16th floor,' Melody, who now lives in the Netherlands, told The Daily Beast.

"'I thought I would have to cope with 'normality,' stop the transition—but no laws, no pressure could break my nature. I knew I could only be happy as the woman I am," she said.

In 2022 Melody was living with her boyfriend in the Tula region of Russia until "last December," when they "made a decision that I move to Amsterdam and he would join me later. But upon my arrival in Holland I received a phone call: my boyfriend was stabbed to death in the town of Aleksin. I look back and see only repressions, fear and threats."

Openly gay filmmaker Nikita Loyk produced Incurable Me — "about horrific cases of Russian conversion therapy, recently premiered in Lisbon and Amsterdam," according to The Beast.

Loyk said, "The new law obliges every district clinic to hire a sexologist and treat teens; this law is a carte blanche for violence, and a license to kill for all sorts of thugs. After I released my film, I received many letters from LGBTQ people in Russia. One guy said: 'Help me, they kidnapped my boyfriend and took him for conversion therapy. First, domestic violence was decriminalized in Russia and now nobody seems to care if transgender people will survive.'"

Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjödin added, "This is a part of an ideology aimed at erasing trans people, and this is true in the US as well as Russia. This is also the same kind of ideology that also drives the anti-LGBTQ legislation and bills in Uganda and other countries in Africa. Governments are claiming to protect 'youth' or 'traditional families,' while ignoring the fact that gender-affirming care and legal gender recognition that respect people's identities save lives and improve the quality of life immensely for trans people that have access to them."

Now, while roaming Moscow, Romanova compares herself to "a Jew in Berlin during the World War II," saying, "This law is an invitation to kill us all, there is only one way to survive—to leave the country; I wish I had money to travel to one of the most transgender-friendly countries like the Netherlands. Western countries should make the immigration procedure easier for Russian transgender people—we are the most vulnerable group here. The discrimination we face threatens our lives."

The Daily Beast's full report is available at this link (subscription required).

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