Humanity will die out if same-sex couples are granted the right to adopt children, the head of Russia’s upper house of parliament has claimed.
Russia banned the adoption of children by same-sex couples and “propaganda of homosexuality among minors” in 2013. While some independent polls say Russians have largely negative views of LGBT people, other polls have suggested that attitudes toward equal rights for LGBT people are at a 14-year high.
“What will allowing same-sex couples to adopt children lead to? It’ll simply lead to the extinction of mankind,” Valentina Matvienko, the head of the upper-house Federation Council, said Monday at a government-sponsored youth forum outside Moscow.
“There are basic ingredients for happiness,” the state-run TASS news agency quoted Matvienko as saying.
“I believe they’re universal: family, children and parents. We see how these foundations are being eroded,” she added.