Uguay – most gay iendly natn South Ameri - Gu'Guay

(Rters) - Elle Soloma is 36, but she says her life tly began 2021, when she changed her genr to female her official Rsian intifitn documents. The IT worker is now watchg the path she took to self-acceptance cmble, as Rsia is poised to outlaw genr chang IDs and genr-affirmg medil re, cludg surgery. This is s purt form a fascist law, Soloma told Rters om the Geian pal of Tbilisi, where she fled after Rsia vad Ukrae last year. I have not found any explanatn for , except that a totalarian system, the populatn mt live fear. The draft legislatn, which received ial backg last month om the lower hoe of parliament, is the latt phase a wispread crackdown on LGBTQ rights, which Print Vladimir Put seeks to portray as evince of moral y Wtern untri. News of the ban has raised alarm among transgenr advot, who warn of dangers to psychologil and physil health and long-term problems posed by a potential illic hormone dg market. Rsian state news agenci have reported that the bill will go to a send readg on Thursday. Bills require three readgs, approval by the upper hoe of parliament, and signg by the print before beg law. Nef Cellari, programme ordator of LGBT rights group Vykhod ( Comg Out ), told Rters that requts for support ssns soared om a dozen a normal month to 45 June as news of the law broke. I've received many letters wh phras like, 'I don't want to live anymore,' 'I don't know what to do,' Cellari said, speakg om an undisclosed lotn. Trans people Rsia are sred and they are sperate. Advot say the ban has been over a the makg. Last December, Put signed a law expandg rtrictns on the promotn of LGBT propaganda, effectively banng any public exprsn of their liftyle by lbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenr people Rsia. Earlier legislatn has been ed for years to stop gay pri march, ta activists, and, many LGBTQ Rsians say, stil a culture of fear among those who live what the Kreml lls non-tradnal liftyl . We are prervg Rsia for postery, wh s cultural and fay valu, tradnal foundatns, and puttg up a barrier to the peratn of Wtern anti-fay iology, Pyotr Tolstoy, puty chairman of the State Duma, said durg the bill's first readg June. Observers believe the draft law's broad language uld also outlaw hormone therapi. Richard Volkov, a 26-year-old mician om Mosw, says fellow transgenr men he knows are scramblg to change their IDs and start hormone regim. This is the worst thg my untry uld do, he told Rters Sagarejo Geia, where he moved after the war began. It seems that if I simply tell myself that I exist, I am already vlatg the law. Rsia has allowed genr chang on IDs sce 1997, four years after crimalised homosexualy. The number of transgenr people Rsia is unknown, but other untri hovers around 0.5% of the adult populatn. Last year 996 people applied to change their genr on their passports Rsia, acrdg to the health mistry. The number of those who unrwent surgery was even smaller. Doctors who perform such procr say the ban uld stimulate a black market for substute hormon, further endangerg patient health. Transgenr people will self-medite, prcribe and take the dgs for themselv , Dr. Andrei Istranov, a plastic surgeon who treats transgenr patients, told Rters an terview his private clic Mosw. Psychologilly, patients will fely suffer. Cellari says the law may fuel an exod of transgenr people om Rsia, but Vykhod will foc on supportg those who rema. The whole pot is about changg the suatn Rsia, not evacuatg everybody, he said. We are ready to fight back. (This story has been rrected to change the name of the place to Sagarejo, not Sarajevo, paragraph 15) (Reportg by Rters; Edg by Nick Macfie)