Armenian civic groups call for annulling gender legislation

Armenian civic groups are calling upon wide circles of the society to join their campaign against the controversial gender equality law which received the parliament’s approval earlier this year.

The public initiative No to Gender Perversion and the Pan-Armenian Parental Committee ask the intellectual circles, NGOs, the media and individuals to take joint action to prevent what they call a perversive legislation.

At a news conference on Saturday, publicist Lia Avetisyan characterized the authors of the law as “cheaters” who elaborated the measure with political motives. “With this law, our National Assembly demonstrated its low level,” she said, stressing the need of urgent measures to annul the controversial legal act.

“The definition goes beyond the traditional approach to the equality of rights between a men and woman, with the state committing itself to protect - at the expense of the budget - the rights and interests of citizens with a gender behavior,” Avetisyan added.

She said that the bill poses a threat to both the present and future generations.

The civil groups also call for making necessary amendments to any laws and decisions that contain propaganda of non-traditional sexual orientation. They propose instead organizing public debates over education reforms to address the more specific needs of the younger generation.