Russian Duma completes passage of bill banning gender change

(Reuters) - A sweeping Russian draft law to ban legally or medically changing gender was approved by the lower house of parliament on Friday in its final reading, part of a crackdown against LGBT rights under President Vladimir Putin.

The bill would bar Russians from changing their gender on official identity documents, which had been legal since 1997. Health workers would be banned from "performing medical interventions designed to change the sex of a person", including surgery and prescribing hormone therapy.