Kazakhstan’s Senate approved a law on December 18 to ban what is termed LGBTQ+ “propaganda”, specifically “propaganda of non-traditional sexual orientation”. Senator Rustemov said that the law bans “the use of media, literature, entertainment and other events that promote nontraditional sexual relations and pedophilia”. Those in violation of this ban would face fines and potential detention. 

The draft law was approved by the lower chamber of parliament in November, and the bill was initially postponed by the Senate. Now that it has been approved, it goes to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to be officially signed into law.

NGOs such as the group QUEER KZ have called on activists around the world to contact their political representatives and the embassies of Kazakhstan to protest these unjust laws urgently. Human Rights Watch researchers have urged President Tokayev to veto the bans, however it is noted that he has signed homophobic proposals into law previously. 

Before the LGBTQ+ ‘propaganda’ bill was approved by the Senate, it was reported that the Kazakhstan Ministry of Culture had rejected a petition against the law, filed by activist organisations. 

In November, international human rights groups, including Access Now and International Partnership for Human Rights, came forward to urge lawmakers to reject the ban. Human Rights Watch reported on the draft law, noting that the proposed bill would “violate fundamental human rights and increase the vulnerability of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and other queer people (LGBTIQ+) in Kazakhstan”. 

Human Rights Watch also reported on the ban’s potential to “blatantly violate Kazakhstan’s international human rights commitments, including children’s rights to education, health, and information”. 

Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director stated that “banning so-called ‘LGBTQ+ propaganda is not about protecting children, it’s about institutionalising stigma, fear and censorship”. 

This ban comes amidst larger concerns for LGBTQ+ rights in Kazakhstan. In 2023, the UN Committee against Torture expressed concern about  “violence against individuals on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity” in Kazakhstan.