This paper will examine the comparative legislative process on same-sex marriage and gay-lesbian rights in three countries: the United Kingdom, France and Russia. While Britain and France passed laws legalizing same-sex marriage, Russia’s laws on “propaganda” and adoption of Russian children by foreigners have been widely perceived as setbacks for GLBT rights. It is intriguing that these three very different governments passed laws within a concurrent period of time (2013). On the one hand, each governments in the three countries initiated its own laws, for domestic reasons. On the other hand, in each of the three countries, politicians often located their positions on laws in the context of the global trend of recognition of GLBT rights. The paper seeks to determine the respect roles of two variables in determining legislative outcomes: domestic political factors (including the choices of political parties) and the perceived pressures emanating from the international environment.
