President Putin at Moscow State University on Dec. 3, 2013
During an Olympics already mired in controversy over “gay propaganda” laws, Russia passed a statute Thursday forbidding single people (gay or straight) who live in any country where gay marriage is legal from adopting Russian children.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed the measure as an amendment to the law passed last July forbidding all same-sex couples from adopting from Russia, the Wall Street Journal reports. The new decree will not affect American citizens, who have already been banned from adopting Russian children, regardless of their sexual preferences or marital status, since 2012.
The announcement of the new measure comes with Winter Olympics in full swing in Sochi, where gay rights advocates have been protesting Russia’s law banning people from “exposing children to gay propaganda.” The law theoretically leaves any person who says he is gay or who supports gay rights open to arrest.
MORE: Exclusive: Sochi’s Gays Had Protection From the Mayor Who Claimed They Don’t Exist
[WSJ]