Russian President Vladimir Putin Says He'll Never Allow Gay Marriage
- By
- Carlos Santoscoy
- | February 15, 2020
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday vowed he would never allow gay and lesbian couples to legally marry as long as he's in the Kremlin.
According to Reuters, Putin made the comments as he met a state commission to discuss changes to Russia's constitution.
(Related: Vladimir Putin would rather not shower with a gay man: Why provoke him?)
“As far as 'parent number 1' and 'parent number 2' goes, I've already spoken publicly about this and I'll repeat it again: As long as I'm president, this will not happen. There will be dad and mum,” Putin said.
Putin, who is closely aligned with the conservative Orthodox Church, has previously suggested that gay people harm kids and signed a bill into law that makes it illegal for Russians to speak favorably about the LGBT community. Violations include publicly waving a rainbow flag, a symbol of the LGBT rights movement.
(Related: Russian Orthodox leader says gay marriage as immoral as Nazi laws.)
Speaking on the law in 2014, Putin said that it “does not hurt anyone,” suggesting that sexual minorities are effectively invisible in Putin's Russia.
Putin has also failed to speak out against the attacks on mostly gay men going on in the Russian republic of Chechnya.
(Related: Welcome to Chechnya producers hope docu “activates” Trump admin to respond to LGBT crisis.)