Russian parliament considers extending the ban on “gay propaganda” as a discussion of LGBTQ rights and partnerships is subject to already strong limitations, which the Russian parliament tried to tighten on Monday. A draft measure known as the “gay propaganda” bill, which seeks to expand a 2013 ban on the “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations” to minors, was published on the website of the parliament, or Duma.

A bill that would outlaw LGBTQ content in movies and the positive or neutral discussion of LGBTQ partnerships in public was introduced by a cross-party coalition of six Communist and socially conservative MPs. According to reports, similar proposals were made earlier this month by President Vladimir Putin’s ally and parliament speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.

After Russia left the Council of Europe, an organization that monitors human rights, in March, it advocated for a sweeping ban on the dissemination of information on LGBTQ relationships on July 8. “With Russia’s departure from the Council of Europe, calls for the legalization of same-sex unions in that country are no longer heard,” Volodin remarked on Telegram that attempts to impose foreign values on our culture had failed.

Pro-Kremlin officials have frequently claimed that the conflict in Ukraine is an effort to uphold “Western values,” which they claim include LGBTQ visibility and rights. Putin officially recalled Russia’s delegate at the European Court of Human Rights, or ECHR, on the same day the law was put out for consideration. The decree was made public on Monday on the Russian government’s website for legal information.

Putin enacted a bill last month that absolves Russia of its obligation to uphold ECHR rulings rendered after March 15, when Russia withdrew from the Council of Europe. The newly constituted council’s 1953 treaty, which all member nations are expected to sign, established the ECHR.

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