MOSCOW, Aug 26 (Reuters) – A Russian lawmaker has said
parliament should ban blood donations from homosexuals, news
agencies reported on Monday, upsetting activists already angry
at a nationwide ban on gay ‘propaganda’.
“We will suggest an amendment to the law on (blood)
donations on the order of the Health Ministry that returns
homosexuals to the list of contra-indicated donors,” Interfax
quoted parliamentarian and Moscow mayoral candidate Mikhail
Dyegtyaryov as saying.
A law passed in June that prohibits spreading “propaganda of
non-traditional sexual relations” has sparked criticism from
Western governments and led to calls for a boycott of the 2014
Olympics in Sochi, Russia, next February.
The measure, popular with many Russians and with the
powerful Orthodox Church, highlighted the more socially
conservative course that President Vladimir Putin has charted in
his third term. Putin draws strong support from conservative
rural parts of Russia, while protests against his 13-year rule
have mostly been confined to big cities.
Dyegtyaryov, who represents the nationalist LDPR party in
parliament’s lower house, the Duma, said the proposed move would
help staunch Russia’s HIV-AIDS epidemic. Many experts, however,
say Russia’s high drug addiction rates pose a greater HIV
threat.
Gay activists say that the propaganda law has increased
discrimination against them and emboldened vigilante-style
attacks.
Gay rights advocate Yelena Kostyuchenko, who said she
regularly gives blood, wrote on her Twitter blog on Monday that
she had been asked to donate that very day.
“Next time I’ll say – I’m sorry, I’m a lesbian, I don’t
deserve to give blood for your family members. Keep looking,”
she wrote.
(Reporting by Thomas Grove; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
