The Russian Duma unanimously approved a law Tuesday to ban distribution of information about homosexuality to children.
The measure will become law after the upper house and President Vladimir Putin inevitably approve it, according to the BBC.
Penalties for distributing homosexual “propaganda” include hefty fines and jail time, reports the Wall Street Journal.
A group of youths protesting the bill were attacked by anti-gay demonstrators and then detained by police only hours before the Duma passed the measure, according to Newsday.
The Duma also passed a bill to jail people who offend religious believers. Both measures are part of an anti-Western and anti-liberalism effort to encourage traditional Russian values and suppress anti-Putin protests.
Though no member voted against the bill, Ilya Ponomaryov, who has supported the protest effort, abstained, despite his membership to a pro-Kremlin party.
Advocates of LGBT rights attempted to host a “kissing rally” outside the Duma, but were attacked by masses of Orthodox Christian and pro-Kremlin demonstrators. The large group of reportedly brawny male youths threw eggs at the gay rights advocates while bellowing obscenities and homophobic slurs.
More than two dozen protesters were detained; of these, almost all of them were liberal gay rights protesters. Some who were not detained were reportedly beaten.
These bills were passed in the wake of the liberal feminist anti-Putin Pussy Riot demonstration that landed two of their members in jail.
Images: Moscow Times Twitter, WikiCommons
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