Russia wants to end transgender marriage 'loophole'

Russian lawmakers have proposed a new piece of legislation which would ban transgender people from marrying.

Same-sex marriage is already banned in the country, but the new bill would see a legal loophole which allowed a transgender woman to marry her girlfriend last November closed for good.

Irina Shumilova and Alyona Fursova embarrassed Russian authorities after tying the knot at St Petersburg registry office wearing white bridal dresses and carrying bouquets.

Irina, who describes herself as transsexual, was undergoing hormone replacement therapy, but the pre-planned wedding was allowed to go ahead by officials because she was still legally registered as a male.

The happy pair’s ceremony caused local politician Vitaly Milonov – architect of the city’ anti-gay propaganda law – to accuse the registry officials of treason and criminal negligence.

The amendment to the family code proposed yesterday (May 12) would prohibit marriage between ‘persons of the same gender (as identified at birth), including in cases of gender change, either before the marriage or at the moment of marriage.’

The bill has been sponsored by Russian politicans Aleksey Zhuravlyov, Dmitry Gorovtsov and Anatloy Greshnevikov, who said that the legislation would protect traditional family values.

“Registering marriages between such individuals will lead to the legalization of same-sex marriage, which is not allowed in Russia,” their proposal states.

Meanwhile, a Swedish peace group has come up with a novel way of deterring Russian vessels from the Baltic Sea – find out more here.

attitude.co.uk recently caught up with Reggie Yates to talk about his new show Extreme Russia: Gay & Under Attack. Read our chat in full here.

Russia wants to end transgender marriage ‘loophole’

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