Republicans Accused of Echoing 'Putin's Playbook' With Anti-LGBTQ+ Campaign

• LGBTQ+ rights are being targeted in some parts of the country with over 490 anti-LGBTQ+ proposals introduced in state legislatures since the beginning of this year, according to data by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
• Supporters of such proposals say they are protecting children from harm.
• This sounds "a lot like Putin's playbook," Maxim Ibadov, who grew up in Russia and migrated to America almost a decade ago, told Newsweek.
• Some LGBTQ+ Russians who came to America recently are considering leaving for Canada for more protection and freedom.

As Republican lawmakers push forward hundreds of pieces of legislation targeting the LGBTQ+ community in states across the country, some analysts and advocates see a pattern similar to what happened in Russia under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin over the past decade.

Among these critics is Maxim Ibadov, who grew up in Russia and saw how Putin has restricted the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in that country. Ibadov fears that some lawmakers in America are following the same "playbook."

With the 2024 presidential election cycle already underway, Republican candidates in federal and local races have seized on controversies around LGBTQ+ visibility and rights—and in particular the transgender issue—as a key target to activate voters. This has already raised concerns among some in the U.S., where the HRC has declared a "state of emergency" for LGBTQ+ people.

Over 490 anti-LGBTQ+ proposals have been introduced in state legislatures across the United States since the beginning of this year, according to data from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). This figure is double the number of bills introduced last year, according to CNN. Many of the GOP-backed bills have been promoted as an effort to "protect children" from medical or societal harm. Some conservative lawmakers and pundits have described those opposed to such efforts as "groomers."

"This kind of notion that we have to protect children from the influences of LGBTQ people, that's literally the anti-gay propaganda law that was passed on the federal level in Russia," Ibadov, the national coordinator at Russian-Speaking American LGBTQ Group (RUSA LGBTQ+), an organization that works with asylum seekers from Russian-speaking countries, told Newsweek. "The ideas that LGBTQ folks are groomers and pedophiles, that's also straight out of Putin's playbook."

Some Republican leaders have been long focused on expanding restrictions against the LGBTQ+ community across the country and have used the specific language of "protecting minors" to justify their efforts. They deny that they are opposed to the LGBTQ+ community as a whole, and their efforts have found support among some on the other side of the political divide, for instance feminists who want to protect women-only spaces. However, others have noted that such goals appear to conflict with a central tenet of right-wing thought.

"The Republican party is the driving force behind the war against LGBTQIA+ people," Rhonda Schwindt, an associate professor of nursing at George Washington University told Newsweek. Schwindt is a nationally certified psychiatric/mental health clinical nurse specialist who is leading efforts to prepare future nurse practitioners in providing affirming mental health care to transgender and gender-expansive patients.

"It is notable, and should not go unchallenged, that the political party pursuing and supporting anti-LGBTQIA + legislation, is the same one that purportedly stands for less government interference in people's lives," she added.

Trump Remarks 'Sound a Lot Like Putin's Playbook'

Former President Donald Trump, who is seeking another term next year, said earlier this year that gender-affirming care for minors is "child abuse" and vowed that he would order federal agencies to stop it. Trump also described discussions about gender as "child abuse."

"The left-wing gender insanity being pushed at our children is an act of child abuse. Very simple. Here's my plan to stop the chemical, physical and emotional mutilation of our youth," Trump said in a video posted on Truth Social at the time. Gender-affirming care offers various types of support for transgender and nonbinary people, such as medical, surgical, and mental health services.

Ibadov told Newsweek that Trump's remarks and ambitions "sound a lot like Putin's playbook." Ibadov, who uses they/them pronouns, grew up in Russia and migrated to America almost a decade ago, hoping that they would be safer and freer.

GOP South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem supports a push to ban trans athletes from participating in women's sports in her state, which she says will ensure fairer competition. In an effort to promote the bill, she previously released an ad that started with, "In South Dakota, only girls play girls' sports."

Meanwhile, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has targeted books focused on race, gender identity, and sexual orientation and went after parents of trans children who are receiving gender-affirming care. State lawmakers introduced 52 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in 2021 and 2022.

Paul Dupont, the communications director at American Principles Project (APP), a conservative group that vows to work against the "left's anti-family extremism," told Newsweek that such laws are important to protect women's and girls' opportunities against biological males. He added that these laws are being passed as a result of Americans seeing "firsthand the destructive consequences of the left's gender ideology."

"Increasing numbers of detransitioners are coming out to tell horrific stories of medical malpractice. Parents are discovering sexualized content in their children's school libraries," said Dupont. "All of these developments have voters outraged, and as polling shows, they support legislators addressing these issues by overwhelming margins. Enacting these laws at the federal level should be a no-brainer."

Dupont argued that states passing these laws want to protect children "from being sexualized in schools and from being sterilized and mutilated at an age where they cannot possibly comprehend the long-term consequences of their decisions."

"Any suggestion that these laws are fueled by 'hatred' [towards the LGBTQ+ community] is pure propaganda and has no basis in reality," he added.

Similarly, Marguerite Bowling, the senior communications manager at the Heritage Foundation, told Newsweek that the foundation supports "free speech rights for everyone," but has a reserved stance on gender-transition operations for minors.

"We believe in protecting children from permanent, life-altering, and ultimately sterilizing experimental medical treatments, and we don't think public schools or government institutions should be teaching children they might be born in the wrong body, and so need drugs and surgery to create a new and different body that conforms to a child's putative 'internal sense of gender,'" she said. "Almost no one would have disagreed with these positions even 10 years ago, and we suspect that most Americans still agree."

Data from the Pew Research Center last year showed that a majority of the U.S. favor laws that would protect transgender individuals from discrimination. However, a recent Washington Post poll found clear majorities of Americans backing Republican-led restrictions that impact transgender children, including limits on gender-affirming care and other policies that LGBTQ+ advocates say help decline suicide rates among transgender youth.

Ron DeSantis' Anti-LGBTQ+ Efforts

Adopting a similar approach to Abbott's, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis intensified his anti-LGBTQ+ efforts long before he announced his 2024 presidential bid. The sunshine state has been a battleground for culture wars that ranged from prolonged fights with Disney, and prohibiting Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools, to restricting discussions of personal pronouns in schools, according to the Associated Press.

Last year, he signed into law the Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed as the "Don't Say Gay Bill," which has been the root cause of his feud with Disney, to ban teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in certain school grades in the state. DeSantis also recently signed a bill that defunds diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) departments at Florida public universities, saying that "DEI is better viewed as standing for discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination."

"Ron DeSantis has been using an all-too-familiar playbook in his drive for public attention, fundraising, and raw political power," Jennifer C. Pizer, the chief legal officer at Lambda Legal, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, told Newsweek. "He has chosen and is targeting a tiny and less well-known and understood minority with lies to cast them as a threat, to drive fear, and to present himself as a strong man protector. It's an ugly, cruel strategy."

DeSantis repeatedly said that he wants to protect children, including saying that surgery can "disfigure" children when referring to gender-transition operations, and using the term "gender identity politics" in reference to gender discussions in schools. He also referred to drag shows as "sexually explicit adult performances."

His approach echoes Putin's actions in Russia, according to Ibadov, where the Gay Propaganda Law was signed in 2013 to achieve a goal of protecting "traditional family values" by banning depictions of "non-traditional sexual relations."

Russia expanded its anti-LGBTQ law last year banning the distribution of materials among minors and adults that depict "pedophilia and gender reassignment," according to Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin. The bill links LGBTQ+ people with pedophilia in Russia, according to Ibadov.

Authorities in Russia even used the anti-gay propaganda bill for the first time recently to fine Trikolor Kino i TV, a streaming platform, $15,000 for content that was in violation of the law, the Moscow Times reported on June 2.

DeSantis' approach might be similar, but Putin and the Republican governor implement their agendas at a different pace, according to Ibadov.

"DeSantis is moving faster than Putin because it took Putin 10 years to pass [expand] a law banning homosexual propaganda for adults and children," they said. "In a way, Putin was much more calculated. DeSantis is just going full steam ahead because of his own presidential ambition."

Such an accusation was vehemently denied by DeSantis' office. "America knows that Joe Biden's federal agencies are compromised with a political agenda," Bryan Griffin, DeSantis' press secretary, said.

"Governor DeSantis has led the way in protecting children from harmful mutilation in the name of radical gender ideology. No leader in America has done more on this issue.

"It is illegal in Florida to perform sex changes on children or give them chemical hormone or puberty blocker treatments for gender dysphoria.

"No matter if he has to fight the Biden Administration, deep-pocketed advocacy groups, or woke corporations, Governor DeSantis will always stand up for families and children in the face of the left's gender ideology onslaught."

LGBTQ+ Russians in U.S. Concerned

RUSA has seen a spike in LGBTQ+ people fleeing Russia after the war in Ukraine began last February. Authorities in Russia have since doubled down on their attacks on queer people, according to Ibadov.

"Queer Russians who have come here will not think of going back to Russia because the uncertainty [about LGBTQ+ rights] is better than complete desperation in Russia," Ibadov said. "There is uncertainty in the present moment, [but] they'll feel safe. In Russia, they're either going to be sent to draft [to fight in Ukraine] or they're going to be arrested."

LGBTQ+ Russians are being granted asylum in the U.S. more often now because of the war in Ukraine, according to Ibadov, but the situation has worsened for those still living in Russia.

"Before the war, in Moscow and St. Petersburg and larger parts of the country, there was queer life and people were able to live freely. I can tell you half of Russian show business are LGBTQ people. You could exist as an LGBTQ person. There were drag and queer clubs, even though they were a little bit more hidden," they said, adding that members of the community were "fine" and barely harmed if they chose to be part of the Kremlin's "system."

Ibadov said that before the war in Ukraine, LGBTQ+ Russians could only be expressive within the queer community, but they still found ways to exist and live.

"An Armenian friend who lived in a Russian town told me that before the war, 'they would get you on the streets, but they wouldn't get you in your own home. Now, after the war, they're going to arrest you in your own home,'" said Ibadov.

They continued: "Things have gotten significantly worse because there's now people being fined for Grinder messages, there are a lot of LGBTQ activist groups in Russia who are now being labeled as extremists. So anybody who worked with those groups are facing scrutiny and punishment. Attacks are more targeted than before. Russian authorities are specifically going after people, deliberately finding these people and arresting them."

Pizer told Newsweek that targeting members of the community has often been a popular conservative approach with "autocrats" and "would-be autocrats."

"Putin has chosen to target LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender youth, which is particularly despicable given how powerless children and adolescents are in the face of elected officials' pernicious lies and government bullying," she said.

But LGBTQ+ Russians who came to America recently are disappointed in how states are attacking the queer community, with some considering leaving for Canada for more protection and freedom. Many of them even expressed that they are not feeling safe the more they learn about LGBTQ+-related laws in GOP states.

"They're having this kind of PTSD and I am one of those people," Ibadov said. "Even though I left 10-11 years ago, seeing what DeSantis is doing and thinking that he might be a president one day and he would try to enact this stuff on the federal level, it's like why did I migrate, why I dropped everything in the country where I grew up and moved to this country on the promise of freedom.

"I'm concerned that these anti-LGBTQ laws are just symptoms of larger fascist tendencies," they added. "Seeing DeSantis focus on disenfranchisement of marginalized people and picking fights with Disney makes me think that he's just not going to be an effective president."

How Targeted Are Trans Rights Across America?

The trans community has been hit with anti-trans proposals and legislation sweeping through Republican-led states over the past months. Meanwhile, conservatives and other groups calling for boycotts of certain brands such as Target for promoting Pride-themed merchandise and Bud Light for sending a commemorative can to transgender influencer and activist Dylan Mulvaney have fueled further concerns among trans people.

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 99 in April, banning gender-affirming care for minors in his state. In February, Georgia Republican state senators introduced two bills that would ban gender-affirming care for those under the age of 18, making it the 26th state in the country to try to limit or ban care for transgender patients.

Earlier this month, Missouri's GOP Mike Parson signed into law two bills banning gender-affirming care for minors and prohibiting trans women and girls from participating in female sports.

Transgender people also have limited access to public bathrooms in certain places in seven states, according to a map by the Movement Advancement Project. The map showed that as of June 7, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Idaho, Oklahoma, and Iowa ban transgenders from using bathrooms and facilities consistent with their gender identity in K-12 schools.

North Dakota applied that ban in K-12 schools and at least some government-owned buildings, while Florida enforced it in all schools, colleges, and government-owned buildings and spaces. The state has a law that makes it a criminal offense for trans people to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.

Update 6/13/23, 7:25 a.m. ET: This article and its headline were updated for clarity and context, and to add a response from Ron DeSantis' press secretary.