Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (kaseem – Jor-mat-Tokee-yev), has signed a Russian-style anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda bill into law. The measure bans “information containing propaganda of pedophilia and/or non-traditional sexual orientation in public spaces, as well as in the media,” with penalties of fines or up to 10 days’ detention. International groups warned it would “blatantly violate Kazakhstan’s international human rights commitments” and said such laws have no place in any democratic society. Despite homosexuality being decriminalised in 1998, LGBTQ+ people in Kazakhstan lack basic protections, as the country follows Russia’s widely criticised 2013 propaganda law.
