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ARMENIA WITHDRAWS PROPOSED RUSSIAN-LIKE ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA LAW
LGBTQ Nation
Aug 8 2013
DAN LITTAUER | LGBTQ Nation
YEREVAN, Armenia - Armenian police on Thursday withdrew a proposal
that would have banned any public promotion of "non-traditional sexual
relationships" in the country, similar to anti-gay laws in Russia.
The proposed amendments to Armenia's administrative offenses would
have fined citizens, legal entities, and officials up to $4,000 for
propagating "non-traditional sexual relationships," but were withdrawn
just days after posting it on their website.
Police initially stated that the bill was needed to protect "the
model of the traditional Armenian family" against "phenomena alien
to national Armenian mentality."
The bill prompted concern from some civil rights activists after
being posted on the police website earlier this week, reported Radio
Free Europe.
Armenian authorities also faced potential strong reaction from Western
governments and human rights groups. The latter powerfully criticized
similar legislation that was recently enacted in Russia.
Ashot Aharonian, a police spokesman said the Armenian police chief,
Vladimir Gasparian, withdrew the bill due to "shortcomings" exposed
by critics, and for not being a pressing "priority" for the police
at the moment.
Aharonian claimed that a legal department at the national police
service drafted the amendments in response to letters from many
Armenians worried about they see as growing "public manifestations
of homosexuality," but that authorities never intended to crack down
on sexual minorities.
He insisted that the bill was not withdrawn under domestic or foreign
pressure.
Mamikon Hovsepian, the head of the Karik, an Armenian LGBT rights
advocacy group, suggested that the proposed bill was "definitely the
shadow of Russia."
LGBT activist Sevak Kirakosian said the proposed ban on gay
"propaganda" might have also been a government attempt to deflect
the public's attention from socioeconomic problems that have blighted
Aremenia.
Several Armenian organizations had openly voiced support for the
police initiative.
One of them, the Armenian Organization for Constitutional Rights
Defense, said the bill does not violate human rights. "Nobody wants to
prevent anybody from having such a lifestyle," it said in a statement.
"But there are many people who do not want this lifestyle to be
imposed on them and their children watching television."
Armenia and the majority of other former Soviet republics
decriminalized homosexuality in the early 1990s, but hostility in
the region toward LGBT people remains high.
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2013/08/armenia-withdraws-proposed-russian-like-anti-gay-propaganda-law/
From: A. Papazian
LGBTQ Nation
Aug 8 2013
DAN LITTAUER | LGBTQ Nation
YEREVAN, Armenia - Armenian police on Thursday withdrew a proposal
that would have banned any public promotion of "non-traditional sexual
relationships" in the country, similar to anti-gay laws in Russia.
The proposed amendments to Armenia's administrative offenses would
have fined citizens, legal entities, and officials up to $4,000 for
propagating "non-traditional sexual relationships," but were withdrawn
just days after posting it on their website.
Police initially stated that the bill was needed to protect "the
model of the traditional Armenian family" against "phenomena alien
to national Armenian mentality."
The bill prompted concern from some civil rights activists after
being posted on the police website earlier this week, reported Radio
Free Europe.
Armenian authorities also faced potential strong reaction from Western
governments and human rights groups. The latter powerfully criticized
similar legislation that was recently enacted in Russia.
Ashot Aharonian, a police spokesman said the Armenian police chief,
Vladimir Gasparian, withdrew the bill due to "shortcomings" exposed
by critics, and for not being a pressing "priority" for the police
at the moment.
Aharonian claimed that a legal department at the national police
service drafted the amendments in response to letters from many
Armenians worried about they see as growing "public manifestations
of homosexuality," but that authorities never intended to crack down
on sexual minorities.
He insisted that the bill was not withdrawn under domestic or foreign
pressure.
Mamikon Hovsepian, the head of the Karik, an Armenian LGBT rights
advocacy group, suggested that the proposed bill was "definitely the
shadow of Russia."
LGBT activist Sevak Kirakosian said the proposed ban on gay
"propaganda" might have also been a government attempt to deflect
the public's attention from socioeconomic problems that have blighted
Aremenia.
Several Armenian organizations had openly voiced support for the
police initiative.
One of them, the Armenian Organization for Constitutional Rights
Defense, said the bill does not violate human rights. "Nobody wants to
prevent anybody from having such a lifestyle," it said in a statement.
"But there are many people who do not want this lifestyle to be
imposed on them and their children watching television."
Armenia and the majority of other former Soviet republics
decriminalized homosexuality in the early 1990s, but hostility in
the region toward LGBT people remains high.
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2013/08/armenia-withdraws-proposed-russian-like-anti-gay-propaganda-law/
From: A. Papazian