RUSSIA: Government To Ban Adoptions By Foreign Same-Sex Couples

Responding in part to France's passage of marriage equality, the Russian government will ban all adoptions by foreign same-sex couples.

An amendment restricting foreign adoptions to "traditional" families would be submitted by the government to parliament in its autumn session, Alexei Levchenko, a spokesman for the deputy prime minister, Olga Golodets, said on Saturday. Russian legislation sets several requirements for adoptive parents from abroad, such as sufficient income and a clean criminal record. But it does not mention sexual orientation or address the issue of same-sex couples. Putin has frequently championed socially conservative values and courted the conservative Russian Orthodox church during a new term he started in May 2012, after a series of large street protests by mostly liberal Russians in big cities.

All Americans are already banned from adopting Russian children.