Gay marriage laws will block French, British adoption of Russian kids, official

The legalisation of gay marriage has reduced French and British couples’ chances of adopting Russian children, Moscow’s human rights representative declared Wednesday. As the right-wing opposition tried to stall passage of the same-sex marriage law through France’s parliament, Konstantin Dolgov hailed their “Christian values”.

Reuters/Luke MacGregor

“The British and French parliaments have legalised homosexual marriage. That reduces the possibility of these countries’ citizens adopting Russian children,” Dolgov tweeted Wednesday.

Dolgov is human rights representative for Russia’s foreign affairs ministry.

Last week he praised opponents of the French bill, largely composed of Catholics and activists of former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party, with the tweet, “Christian values are alive even in the context of Western neoliberalism.”

In January the lower house of the Russian parliament passed a bill that sought to make “homosexual propaganda aimed at minors” illegal.

The spokesperson of the lower house of the Russian parliament, Sergei Naryshkin, hinted that his country might react unfavourably while on a visit to Paris Tuesday.

And on Monday the Kremlin’s delegate for children’s rights, Pavel Astakhov, declared, “French gays won’t have our children.”

In December Russia stopped US citizens adopting Russian children in reprisal for a Congress travel ban on Russian officials accused of rights violations.

The British parliament on Tuesday legalised gay marriage with a minority of the ruling Conservative Party voting against and the Labour opposition voting with the government.

Although the French parliament has voted for the key first clause of its “marriage for all” bill, the UMP is carrying out a campaign of obstruction to hold up the passage of the law.

On Tuesday MPs fielded 187 amendments relating to the use of the words “mother” and “father” in other French legislation.

When Socialist MPs announced that the Conservative-led UK parliament had passed its law on Tuesday, UMP members distanced themselves from the British right.

“You draw your inspiration from ultraliberal monarchies!” declared UMP MP Marc Le Fur.