How the Ministry of Culture Interprets LGBTQ+ “Propaganda”

In a Senate working group, deputies discussed the amendments on archival policy and restricting the spread of illegal content that the Mazhilis had already approved. A ban on promoting LGBTQ+ identities and pedophilia was added to the document, Orda.kz reports.

The discrimination in these amendments is clear from the start: LGBTQ+ identities were equated with pedophilia.

Sexual acts involving children are universally recognized in the civilized world as a psychological pathology and a criminal offense codified in law. Attraction to the same sex, when it involves two consenting adults, is considered a normal variant of human sexuality.

Lawmakers chose to ignore this offensive comparison and went further. Deputy Ainur Argynbekova asked how the supposed influence of LGBTQ+ “propaganda” — an imaginary phenomenon — on children and teenagers was studied.

Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Yevgeny Kochetov spoke about numerous studies that were allegedly shown to the public. The Ministry of Health, he claimed, suddenly found that ideas can influence the unstable psyche of minors:

Specialists from the Ministry of Health identified a close connection between minors’ sensitive psychology and the impact of propaganda on it. That is why children have been chosen as the primary group for which restrictions will be introduced.

The deputy minister also mentioned studies by “various NGOs” and the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation, but admitted that these studies focused on how Kazakhstan society perceives LGBTQ+ people.

In other words, experts did not study any fictional propaganda. On the contrary, they examined society’s ability to accept those who differ from the majority and its tolerance toward any form of discrimination.

The reason I am explaining this is that all these studies confirmed that there is a strong public demand in Kazakhstan to ban the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations. This is not only an initiative of the Majilis deputies who co-authored the bill, but an initiative supported by a large group of Kazakhstani citizens, said Yevgeny Kochetov.

So the studies confirmed society’s immaturity — the unwillingness of a “large group of citizens” to respect the rights of people who are different, who do not fit into stereotypical “traditional” norms?

And according to the deputy minister, the language in Kazakhstan’s bill is still soft — unlike in some “European countries.”

If we look at the definition of propaganda proposed, let’s say, by certain European countries — there, propaganda means actively spreading an idea to involve, persuade, and mobilize people around it. The wording proposed by the Mazhilis deputies is much more lenient. It concerns only encouraging public approval or a positive public evaluation, explained Yevgeny Kochetov.

From the deputy minister’s explanation, it is clear that in Europe, punishment applies to propaganda that mobilizes people around an idea and creates mass movements. If someone spreads harmful and dangerous ideas, it makes sense to restrict such actions and hold organizers accountable.

In Kazakhstan, however, the proposal is to punish people for “encouraging approval” of humane treatment of others, regardless of their sexual orientation, and for positive public recognition of relationships between two adult people of the same sex.

Meanwhile, the message of LGBTQ+ discrimination coming from Parliament is already producing consequences.

Less than a week ago, a talk by human rights defender and co-founder of the Feminita public association, Zhanar Sekerbayeva, on women’s rights and roles was canceled at KIMEP University in Almaty. The refusal was attributed to “university policy restrictions.” Sekerbayeva said the real reason was LGBTQ+ discrimination.

Original Author: Anastasia Prilepskaya