Russian president Vladimir Putin has put a ban on same-sex marriage and transgender adoptions, in a huge blow for LGBTQ+ rights. Putin officially changed the country’s constitution on a number of issues earlier this week, following a national referendum in which 77% of people in Russia voted in favour of the ban in July 2020. The new amendments mean same-sex couples will not be able to legally get married in Russia, because the country’s constitution now says that marriage can only exist between a man and a woman. It also means that transgender members of the community will not be able to adopt. The anti-LGBT amendments are rooted in ‘a belief in God’ within the country, in which many LGBTQ+ people choose to hide their true identity for their own safety. Homosexuality was first decriminalised in Russia in 1917, before being re-criminalised in 1933 and then later legalised once more in 1993; however. homophobia remains rife in the country.