Russia to ban adoptions by foreign same-sex couples

Russia will ban adoptions by foreign same-sex couples, a Russian official said Saturday.

“In accordance with the Russian Family Code, same-sex couples are barred from adopting children,” Alexei Levchenko, an aide to a Russian deputy premier overseeing social issues, Olga Golodets, told RIA Novosti. “Most likely, courts won’t authorize such adoptions without any additional legislative acts. However, an additional amendment will be passed, stipulating that adoptions are possible only for two-parent (traditional) foreign couples.”

The requirement to be straight will join Russia’s other eligibility rules for adoptive parents, which include sufficient income, a clean criminal record and not being American, the Guardian reported.

While homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, recent polls have shown that 85 percent of Russians oppose gay marriage and 38 percent of Russians think gay people need medical treatment, the Guardian reported.

President Vladimir Putin has criticized gay Russians for not procreating and adding to the Russian population, according to the Guardian.

Putin and other Russian officials are also pushing to end adoption agreements with countries that allow gay marriage.

On Saturday, Russia's children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said no French citizens should be allowed to adopt Russian children now that France allows same sex-marriage and adoption.

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“France has other variants now,” Astakhov told the Echo Moskvy radio station, according to RIA Novosti. “It turns out, that the countries [Russia and France] have a different legal framework. It is obvious, that a new mechanism should be devised to resolve this issue.”