Russia’s Ministry of Education and Science has begun an internal review of an employee who works in Higher School of Economics (HSE), one of Russian leading universities, Vice Speaker for the State Duma, lower house of the Russian Parliament, Anna Kuznetsova says.
“We are receiving messages on social media about a methodologist of one of the leading Russian universities who, while being a man, openly positions himself as a woman, asking the students to refer to him using female pronouns. Furthermore, the official university website also uses a female name for the employee,” Kuznetsova wrote in a Telegram post.
According to Kuznetsova, the deputies have already contacted Russian Minister of Education Valery Falkov, asking him to look into the situation. The woman says that an internal review is being carried out.
At the beginning of December 202, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law to ban all “LGBT propaganda” in Russia. The bill prohibits “propaganda” of “non-traditional” relations, paedophilia, and gender reassignment online, in the media, books, cinema, and ads. Additionally, according to the law, foreign citizens could be expelled from Russia for “LGBT propaganda”.
The individuals spreading “LGBT propaganda” face fines of up to 400,000 rubles (€6,500). Government officials face fines of up to 800,000 rubles (€13,000), while legal entities may be hit with a fine of up to 5 mln rubles (€81,260).
The law also introduces fines for those who spread “information of non-traditional sexual relations or information that may cause children to want to change their gender”: up to 200,000 rubles (€3,250) for individuals, up to 400,000 (€6,500) for officials, and up to 4 mln (€65,000) for legal entities.
