Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill into law that targets the transgender community.

The law bans any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” the AP reported.

It also prohibits transgender people from altering their gender on official documents. The law further marginalizes transgender people by prohibiting 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.