Kazakhstan bans so-called LGBTQ+ propaganda

The Central Asian country of Kazakhstan has joined its neighbor Russia in banning so-called LGBTQ+ propaganda.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a bill to that effect into law Tuesday, news service Anadolu Agency reports. It bans “pedophilia propaganda” as well, according to the service. Punishment for violations include a fine of 144,500 Kazakh tenge ($280) and jailing for up to 10 days.

Related: 45% of the world doesn't think their country is a good place for gay and lesbian people

Kazakh citizens had submitted a petition about a year and a half ago urging the government to ban anything considered pro-LGBTQ+ propaganda. The Senate had passed the bill December 18 and the lower chamber of Parliament, the Majilis, approved it in November.

When the Senate was considering the legislation, Sen. Ruslan Rustemov described it as “banning the use of media, literature, entertainment, and other events that promote nontraditional sexual relations and pedophilia,” according to Kazakh news outlet Vlast.kz, as translated by The Diplomat, a newsmagazine covering the Asia-Pacific region.

“An analysis of international experience shows that many countries around the world have adopted legislation that ensures the protection of national values and traditions, including those that provide for the protection of the institution of the traditional family,” Rustemov said.

Vice Minister of Justice Botagoz Zhakselekova “tried to split hairs,” The Diplomat notes, saying LGBTQ+ identity will not be illegal, but “public promotion of LGBT rights” will be. “How this doesn’t violate Kazakh citizens’ basic constitutional rights to the freedom of expression and association isn’t clear,” The Diplomat’s reporter commented.

Related: Putin bans adoption of Russian children by citizens of countries permitting gender-affirming care

An international coalition of human rights organizations had condemned the legislation while it was pending. Access Now; Civil Rights Defenders; Eurasian Coalition on Health, Rights, Gender and Sexual Diversity; Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights; Human Rights Watch; International Partnership for Human Rights; and Norwegian Helsinki Committee issued a statement against the measure in November, saying it “would violate fundamental human rights and increase the vulnerability of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and other queer people (LGBTIQ+) in Kazakhstan.”

“Adopting a ‘LGBT propaganda ban’ would blatantly violate Kazakhstan’s international human rights commitments, including children’s rights to education, health, and information,” the statement continued. “Discriminatory and rights-violating provisions like those being proposed have no place in any democratic society, which Kazakhstan aspires to be.”

Kazahkstan’s government additionally has been interfering with journalists in the nation, searching their offices and detaining reporters, and the LGBTQ+ propaganda law will only make this worse, said a December press release from Human Rights Watch and eight other groups. It is “a direct threat not only to people identifying as LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex), but also to journalists, academics, artists, human rights defenders, and civil society actors who risk administrative sanctions for reporting on or advocating for the rights of these groups, or for expressing positive views of LGBTI rights publicly or online,” the release pointed out. What's more, it goes against Kazahkstan’s constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression, and directives from international bodies such as the United Nations, the organizations added.