![Russian Bill Banning Gender Change Surgery Clears Second Reading 1 685750 origin 1](https://www.towleroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/685750-origin_1.jpg)
(Reuters) – Russia’s lower house of parliament on Thursday unanimously approved on the second of three readings a draft law that would ban gender-affirming surgeries for transgender people. The bill would prohibit medical workers from “performing medical interventions designed to change the sex of a person”, though it exempts surgery to treat congenital anomalies in children. It would also bar people from changing their gender on official identity documents and would prohibit transgender people from adopting children. It would annul a marriage where one partner subsequently changed their gende…