A Russian bill expected to become law targets the transgender community.

According to the AP, the bill cleared Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, with unanimous approval in its second reading. A final reading has been scheduled for Friday.

The bill seeks to ban any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person.”

It also prohibits transgender people from altering their gender on official documents. The bill would further marginalize transgender people by barring them from becoming foster or adoptive parents and nullifying marriages in which one person has “changed gender.”

In supporting the measure, lawmakers have portrayed transgender identity as a “Western anti-family ideology.”

In 2013, Russia approved a “gay propaganda” law that allowed the government to crack down on public support for LGBTQ rights. A ban on same-sex marriage was approved in 2020.

After the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, lawmakers approved a measure that bans the “propaganda” of “nontraditional sexual relations” – effectively removing any mention of LGBTQ people in movies, books, or media.