Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill banning the legal recognition of transgender people and banning gender-affirming surgeries and services on Monday, according to Russian media reports from July 25.
Under the new law, "medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person" and "the state registration of a change of gender without an operation" were criminalized, The Moscow Times reported.
The law also bans post-surgery transgender people from adopting children and annuls the marriages of post-surgery transgender people.
The law was passed unanimously by both houses of Russian parliament.
The new bans are said to be a reaction to “Western anti-family ideology” and a restoration of “traditional values,” according to The Guardian.
Russia's history of anti-LGBTQ action
Russia has previously said that it was planning the construction of a village for Americans and Canadians who wish to get away from liberalism and Western gender ideology.
"The reason is the inculcation of radical values: Today they have 70 genders, and it's unknown what will happen next," Timur Beslangurov explained as the reasoning behind the project proposal at the time.
Last year, Russia banned “propaganda” of LGBTQ+ relationships in public life and the media.
Impact of the policy on LGBTQ individuals and communities
“The way these people see their future is collapsing,” Yan Dvorkin, the head of Center-T, a group that helps transgender and non-binary people in Russia, said in an interview with The Moscow Times.
"For children and teenagers, this situation looks like absolute hopelessness," Elle Solomina, a Russian transgender woman now living in Georgia, told Reuters before the Duma resumed consideration of the bill this week. "They will not be able to get any help."
Doctors have also warned that the ban on gender-affirming treatments will create a black market for hormone supplements and increase the risk of suicide for LGBTQ youth.
Reuters contributed to this report.