Politics On The World Stage

Russian lawmaker would rather a child become an orphan than be raised by a gay person

Alexei Zhuravlev * photo via Facebook

By Brody Levesque | MOSCOW, Russia -- In a wide ranging interview Monday with Russian magazine Scion, Alexei Zhuravlev, the Russian lawmaker who stated his intention to file a bill in the Russian Parliament (Duma) to take children away from gay parents, said he would rather a child be an orphan than raised by a gay parent and he referred to gay people as "thieves, sinners, and corrupters."

Asked about the law signed in June by Russian President Vladimir Putin, banning any country with equal marriage from adopting children from Russia, Zhuravlev said;

"I view Europe as Sodom and Gomorrah. Europe must not tell us how to live. The Europeans can live any way they like, but they mustn't tell us what to do. 

If negotiations regarding policy affairs mean that our streets should have gay parades marching around, I am categorically against international relations of that kind and shall speak out against them."

Last week, Zhuravlev had his draft bill published on parliament’s website stating that the “fact of nontraditional sexual orientation” was a basis for denying custody of children by their parents.
The proposed legislative language of the bill, an amendment to the Russian Federal Family Code, also cited other grounds including alcoholism, drug use, and abuse.

Zhuravlev claimed that he was forced to propose the bill because he had heard a recent account of a woman divorcing her powerful husband because he had a "non-traditional orientation."

"It occurred to me that since we have a law explicitly prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality among minors, the Family Code should be amended in such a way that that if a husband or a wife professes a non-traditional sexual orientation, they should be deprived of their parental rights," he said adding, 

"The purpose of this would be to restrict the influence of such a person on his or her own children."

Zhuravlev was asked whether he felt then that there was a possibility that a woman could accuse her husband of being gay after a divorce to get the children. He vehemently disagreed answering that it "would never happen."

In a follow-up answer when he was asked what should be the case if a single mother was found to be gay, such as placing the child in an orphanage he said that "he had no doubts that would be an appropriate action," adding "of course she should definitely be deprived of her rights to the child."

"Homosexuals must not raise children. They corrupt them. They do them much more harm than if the child were in an orphanage. I am deeply convinced of this."

According to the New York based Human Rights Watch, there are currently over 700,000 Russian children in state-run orphanage facilities, most of which are understaffed, poorly run, and lacking basics such as adequate food and medical care.  HRW added that if the last current Russian government tally of children who are homeless or live on the streets of the Russian Federation are included, then the aggregate number of children without proper homes nears 3 million.