Trans Russians Fear For Their Lives After Surgery Ban Passed

When the lower chamber of the Russian parliament passed a new law banning gender-affirming surgery for transgender people, it confirmed Milana Romanova’s worst fear: the relative freedom that transgender people had enjoyed in Russia since 1997, during her entire life, was over.

The new law—passed Friday, and which now goes to the upper chamber and President Putin for final approval—hinted dangerously of increasing medical pressure on gay and transgender people: Putin had personally ordered the ministry of health to create a special “psychiatric institute” to study LGBTQ people. Romanova told The Daily Beast that the new legislation “would only encourage more violence and more transgender people will attempt to commit suicide.”

An 18-year-old stylist, Romanova was in the process of transition. The law means she will not be allowed to have any further medical help, legally. She now walks on the streets of Moscow, “feeling herself as a Jew in Berlin during the World War II,” she told The Daily Beast. “This law is an invitation to kill us all, there is only one way to survive—to leave the country; I wish I had money to travel to one of the most transgender-friendly countries like the Netherlands,” she said. “Western countries should make the immigration procedure easier for Russian transgender people—we are the most vulnerable group here. The discrimination we face threatens our lives.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.