Well-known Russian politician believes that sexual orientation must be checked on bureaucrats.

Aleksandr Khinstein (49) represents Putin’s United Russia party in parliament.

Now the well-known politician says that the sexual orientation of top bureaucrats should be checked before they are employed.

– I don’t see anything reprehensible or bad in such an investigation. Protection of traditional family values ​​is one of the principles of our state policy, Khinstein explains. The proposal comes out in an interview with Obozrenie.

– I have been and in the future will be against my sons’ teachers promoting non-traditional sexual orientation, says Khinstein.

It could mean that teachers are one of the groups of government employees he wants to check. Khinstein is the head of the parliament’s committee for “information policy” and no one in Russian politics.

The reason why Khinstein is now speaking out about this is that the “youth minister” in his home region, Samara, had to resign a few weeks ago. According to the newspaper Kommersant, it happened after Khinstein had accused the minister of being part of a “gay scandal”.

Viltalij Milonov from the same party comes out on Tuesday and supports Khinstein’s proposal and uses the phrase “wrong sexual orientation”, according to Moskovskij Komsomolets.

– A psychologist can carry out the examination, he says.

Mina Skouen of the Helsinki Committee knows a lot about the situation for queers in Russia today:

– This is yet another initiative to keep the idea of ​​the “internal enemy” alive in Russian politics, and draw attention away from issues that are more troublesome for the political leadership.

– Naturally, this is also an intervention towards individuals that is not compatible with basic human rights, and will create more fear and uncertainty for queer Russians, Skouen tells VG.

– Do you think such a proposal can go through in parliament?

– For the time being, this is probably a discussion about an idea, not a concrete proposal. But Khinstein has faced proposals in the past that have appeared hair-raising. For my part, I hope we will not see such a proposal adopted, because it would be a legalization of a process we already see happening informally in workplaces – the fear of outing is strong in both public and private employment, Skouen answers.

Before Christmas, the Russian Supreme Court decided that the international LGBT movement should be declared “extremist”.

In several of his most famous speeches, President Vladimir Putin has talked a lot about “traditional family values”. When he gave his big speech on September 31, 2022 – the day Russia annexed four Ukrainian regions – he launched a fierce attack on queer rights in the West – and promised that it will never be like this in Russia. The president said, among other things, that the West has gone to “a radical denial of moral norms, religion and family”.

Mina Skouen says that Khinstein’s idea of ​​checking sexual orientation will eventually slip into the series of new laws that affect the LGBT community:

– Mandatory audio recording has now been introduced in public doctor’s offices, which means that, for example, lesbian women do not dare to tell the gynecologist about cohabitation for fear of what the information will be used for, and thus they do not get access to relevant health care.