Yekaterina Lakhova, a State Duma deputy from the ruling United Russia party, proposed introducing a moratorium on child adoptions by French citizens in response to the French parliament's legalization of same-sex marriages, a news report said Friday.
Lakhova was also the initiator of the "Dima Yakovlev" bill banning adoptions of Russian orphans by U.S. families.
"If the law comes into effect I will insist on a revision of the Russo-French agreement on [child] adoptions. It is necessary to suspend it to the point of introducing a full ban. Or at the very least make amendments to that document," Lakhova told Izvestia.
"Every child should have a mother and a father, not two mothers or two fathers!" Lakhova said.
She noted that a moratorium on child adoptions by French citizens would be a good tool for political pressure, to support "those French people who cherish family values and disapprove of the legalization of gay marriages," the report said.
Yelena Senatorova, a member of the Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children's Issues, said deputies will discuss Lakhova's initiative at one of the committee's upcoming sessions.
A Just Russia deputy Ilya Ponomaryov said that there's no reason for children's services to "fear French gays and lesbians," since decisions on adoptions in Russia are left up to the courts, which by law do not recognize same-sex families.
Experts on international relations have expressed doubt that Russia's initiative to suspend the adoption agreement could seriously affect diplomatic relations between Russia and France.
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