Kazakhstan MP opposes same-sex relationships

In an interview to Tengrinews.kz Majilis deputy Kairbek Suleimenov told that Kazakhstan needed mechanisms for countering trends like same-sex relationships and marriages that are becoming widespread in Western Europe. "You know that there is a process of "sexual" changes in Western Europe. The vision of society, family and same-sex relationships are changing. Same-sex parents are getting the right to raise children in many countries. But we will not point fingers to others, we have to put things to rights in our country. The Western trends are alien to the traditions of our people, both to Kazakhs and to Russians and other ethnic groups living in Kazakhstan. They are alien to our ideology and our mentality," Suleimenov said. "I am sure that we will never let this happen in our country. But to avoid this we need legal mechanisms for countering it, as well as legal, political and cultural leverages," he said. The deputy noted that even though there was no punishment in Kazakhstan for sodomy (sexual relations between men) and in general Kazakhstan had taken the path of the rule of law, extremes like same-sex relationships constituted serious violations of human rights and were not be tolerated. The punishment for sodomy was canceled in Kazakhstan with adoption of the new Criminal Code only in 1998.