Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev last week signed a bill into law that bans foreign same-sex couples — and single people of any sexual orientation from countries that allow same-sex couples to wed — from adopting Russian children.
That’s right. Not only is Russia prohibiting same-sex couples from adopting, but it is cutting off all single people, CNN reports, because of concerns that they “could turn out to be gay and enter a same-sex marriage in their home countries.” What a horrible disservice to the many children in need of permanent, loving homes. Some adoptions already in progress, where the prospective parents have already met the children, may be halted under the new law, as Toronto’s Globe and Mail reports.
In other disturbing international news, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said he will sign a bill that criminalizes “homosexuality” or “promoting” homosexuality, calling for jail sentences up to life. (An earlier version contained a provision for the death penalty, but that has been removed.) Anti-gay extremists in the U.S. have been encouraging the Ugandan government to enact the bill — but U.S. President Obama has condemned it.
And new anti-gay laws in Nigeria have led to imprisonment and court-sanctioned whippings as well as mob beatings.
Reminds me what a privilege it is to be able to fight for marriage equality. May we not forget the many other battles yet to be won.
