Russian president signs legislation marking the final step outlawing gender-affirming procedures

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed new legislation that marked the final step in outlawing gender-affirming procedures, a crippling blow to Russia’s already embattled LGBTQ+ community. The bill finalized Monday bans any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records. The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies. The ban is said to stem from the Kremlin’s crusade to protect what it views as the country’s “traditional values,” a decade after Russia banned any public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors.