Georgia adopts anti-LGBTQ law, raising concerns ahead of elections

Before the elections on the 26th of October, the Russia-friendly government of Georgia yet took another step further away from Brussels, adopting a draft law on “Family Values and Protection of Minors” that explicitly discriminates against LGBTQ people.

Mamuka Mdinaradze, chairman of ruling party Georgian Dream, says that a legislative change was needed as a countermeasure to LGBT “propaganda”.

“In two or three generations it can have such harmful consequences,” he claims, insisting that same-sex marriage can not be allowed and that if it were, the impact on Georgian society could be of a magnitude “that no conqueror has been able to achieve for centuries”.

At the plenary session, the controversial law passed without disruption, with 84 in favour and zero against.

Opposition parties were not present, as many of them have been boycotting the parliament ever since the adoption of the infamous law on “foreign agents” earlier this year.

Opposition parties are divided on the new law, and are being cautious not to alienate socially conservative voters. They are not explicitly decrying the legislation as “undemocratic”, but instead criticising it as “untimely”.

“Classis Russian propaganda”

The bill has been strongly criticised by many voices in Georgian civil society.

Human rights defenders argue that the goal is to cover up real problems and create another barrier to European integration.

“This is classic Russian propaganda, where the government invents a non-existent problem and promises to solve it,” says Eka Chitanava, the Director of the Institute of Tolerance and Diversity. “There are many social problems in Georgia that create an unfavourable environment which also affects minors.

“This law, on the one hand, puts the LGBT community — already the most marginalised group in the country — in an even more vulnerable position. On the other hand, it damages the state of human rights for all citizens.”

Civil society groups state that this law resembles Russian legislation and that it encroaches on freedom of speech, while also legalising censorship.

“What Russia has been working toward for ten years, ‘Georgian Dream’ has offered us directly,” said Khatia Ghoghoberidze, a member of the Georgian Journalism Charter Council.

“Russia was moving toward this step by step,” Ghoghoberidze told Euronews. “The ‘Georgian Dream’ brought us a version that is in place in Russia today, and the parliament adopted this law.

“I’ll say it directly: it’s just a shame.”

The draft law consists of 13 articles. It addresses marriage, adoption, medical procedures, dissemination of information, gatherings and demonstrations, and many other issues.

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Meanwhile, 17 May, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, has been designated by the Georgian government as the day of “Purity of the Family and Respect for Parents”.

Video editor • Sertac Aktan