The upper house gave final approval for the legislation following its passage last month by the lower house. The bill makes the promotion of homosexual relations, gender change, refusal to have children and paedophilia punishable by fines, community labour and 15-day arrest. Belarus decriminalised homosexuality in 1994 after the Soviet Union's collapse, but it does not recognise same-sex marriages and lacks LGBTQ+ rights protections.
President Aliaksandr Lukashenka has publicly mocked homosexuality. Rights defenders say the KGB has blackmailed LGBTQ+ people to force cooperation. LGBTQ+ people faced beatings, arrests, persecution and mockery before the bill's approval, but now law enforcement agencies have received legal grounds for repressions.
TG House documented at least 12 cases of persecution over three months, including a police raid on a Minsk nightclub during a private gay party. The legislation raised fears among transgender people about being denied permission to purchase necessary medicines. TG House says it received hundreds of requests for psychological help and emigration assistance.
Authorities have lumped LGBTQ+ people with paedophiles, creating social rejection, and Belarus is copying Russia's repressive laws. Russia has banned gender changes on documents, gender-affirming care, and public representation of LGBTQ+ people, with the movement branded extremist and members facing up to six years in prison.