St. Petersburg, Russia, may fine those who are openly gay.

The Moscow Times reports:

The bill proposes fines of 3,000 to 5,000 rubles ($100 to $160) for individuals and up to 50,000 rubles for organizations engaged in "public activities to promote sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism and transsexuality" that might be observed by children...

"The rising popularity of sexual deviations influences our children in a negative way," said the bill's author, Vitaly Milonov, a United Russia deputy, Fontanka.ru reported.

Another deputy, Yelena Babich of the Liberal Democrat Party, denounced even the rainbow-colored decorations that covered St. Petersburg during its City Day celebrations in May as gay propaganda....

"The bill is passed before elections to boost the popularity of United Russia, which is flagging in St. Petersburg," [said Igor Kochetkov, head of LGBT group Vykhod.] "This bill smacks of the Middle Ages."...

The Constitution allows for the balance of interests in society, limiting rights of a social group if it infringes on the rights of another social group, [said Dmitry Shubin, of the law firm Yustina]. This means that rights of the LGBT community can be limited in favor of those who are not gay, who are in the majority....

Still, the bill is "cleverly worded" because it only bans propaganda of LGBT behavior, not the behavior itself, and because it includes both gay relationships and pedophilia, putting them on the same level in the eyes of the public, Shubin said.