Belarus Passes Bill To Punish People For Promotion Of LGBTQ “Propaganda”

April 6, 2026 Margaret Hetherman

Former member of USSR seeks fines, labor and arrest for “propaganda of homosexual relations, gender change, refusal to have children and pedophilia.”

Featured Image: TG House activists protest against the adoption of Article 19.16 in Belarus. Photo by TG House

On April 2, 2026, the Belarus parliament passed a bill amending the Code of Administrative Offenses to include what it calls “propaganda of homosexual relations, gender change, refusal to have children and pedophilia.” Though Belarus decriminalized homosexuality in 1994 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, aligning more closely with European standards, the nation of 9.5 million does not have a great track record on LGBTQ rights. Same-sex marriage is not legally recognized, the influence of Russian intolerance has continued, and its president, Alexander Lukashenko, once said, “Better to be a dictator than gay.”

A pattern of restrictive anti-LGBTQ legislation has also persisted in this country known for its Stalinist architecture and primeval forests.

In 2017, Belarus passed a bill prohibiting the dissemination of information that “discredits the institution of family and marriage.” That same year, an Amnesty International report “found an overspill of homophobic and transphobic rhetoric and practice from Russia” in countries that had joined the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, including Belarus. And while the UN-adopted international human rights law that prohibits discrimination has been in place for 50 years, Amnesty International has flagged lack of protections for LGBTQ rights in Belarus, as well as the media’s contribution to inciting homophobia, and various forms of intimidation and demonization of gay people.

TG House activists protest against the adoption of Article 19.16 in Belarus. Photo by TG House.

In 2024, Human Rights Watch reported on the expansion of the definition of pornography under Belarusian law to include depictions of same-sex relationships as well as trans people: The Culture Ministry recently amended its decree on “erotic materials” to classify “homosexualism, lesbian love” and the “desire to live and be seen by others as a person of an opposite sex”—a reference to transgender people—as “non-traditional sexual relationship or behavior.” This places depictions of LGBT people alongside those of necrophilia, pedophilia, and voyeurism, all of which legally constitute “non-traditional relationships.”

At that time, according to HRW, public displays of pornography in Belarus could be met with up to four years in prison, and “child pornography,” with up to 13 years behind bars.

Image via IG: TG House is a trans-led Belarusian advocacy organization

As for the current “propaganda” bill (Article 19.16 of the Belarus Code of Administrative Offenses), it was passed last month by the lower house, before being approved in the upper house on April 2. It is now advancing to President Alexander Lukashenko who is expected to sign it into law. Offenders could face fines, community labor and 15-day arrest.