Russia proposes ban on sex reassignment

MOSCOW: Russian lawmakers have submitted a draft bill to parliament that would ban legal or surgical sex changes, as Moscow sharpens its conservative turn during the Ukraine offensive.

Russia has for years been an inhospitable environment for anyone whose views differ from the hard-line interpretation of “family values” promoted by the Kremlin and the Orthodox church. Pressure had been building on LGBTQ activists in recent years but has grown still more intense as troops fight in Ukraine. The conflict is portrayed in Russia as a fight against the “decadent” West.