Georgian parliament approves law curbing LGBTQ+ rights

On Tuesday, Georgian lawmakers approved the third and final reading of a law concerning “family values and the protection of minors,” which would impose significant restrictions on LGBTQ+ rights.

As ‘CNN’ writes, the legislation would enable authorities to prohibit Pride events, prevent the public display of the LGBTQ+ rainbow flag, and enforce censorship on films and books.

Leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party advocate for the law, arguing that it is necessary to protect traditional moral standards in Georgia, where the conservative Orthodox Church holds substantial influence.

Activists believe the measure is designed to bolster conservative support for the government in the lead-up to the parliamentary election on October 26 in Georgia, a nation with aspirations to join the European Union but raising concerns among Western governments about a shift back towards Russia.

Tamara Jakeli, the director of the campaign group Tbilisi Pride, expressed that the bill, which also reinforces an existing ban on same-sex marriage and prohibits gender reassignment surgery, would likely compel her organisation to shut down.

“This law is the most terrible thing to happen to the LGBTQ community in Georgia,” Jakeli, 28, told Reuters. “We will most likely have to shut down. There is no way for us to continue functioning.”

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Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, a critic of Georgian Dream with largely symbolic powers, has indicated her intention to block the bill. However, Georgian Dream and its allies possess enough parliamentary seats to override her veto.

LGBTQ+ rights are a contentious issue in Georgia, where polls reveal widespread disapproval of same-sex relationships, and the constitution prohibits same-sex marriage. Participants in Tbilisi’s annual Pride marches have faced physical assaults by anti-LGBTQ+ protestors in recent years.

The issue has gained prominence ahead of October’s election, with Georgian Dream seeking a fourth term and focusing its campaign heavily on opposing LGBTQ+ rights.

The ruling party, led by billionaire ex-prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili as its key candidate in the election, has been strengthening ties with Russia as relations with Western nations have cooled.

Earlier this year, it enacted a “foreign agents” law, which European and U.S.A. critics have deemed authoritarian and Russian-influenced. Its passage incited some of the largest protests Georgia has seen since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Opinion polls indicate the party, which in 2014 enacted a law banning anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination before later adopting more conservative stances, remains Georgia’s most popular, even though it has lost ground since 2020, when it barely secured a parliamentary majority.

In a ruling party advertisement broadcast on Georgian television, the face of Pride director Jakeli is featured alongside the phrase: “No to moral degradation.”

Jakeli noted that the bill could only be halted if Georgian Dream were to lose power in October, although she acknowledged that the country’s opposition parties are not explicitly supportive of LGBTQ+ rights.

“The only way we can survive in this country and have any progress on LGBTQ rights is for us to go in great numbers to the elections and vote for change,” she said.

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