The speaker of the Georgian parliament signed into a law Thursday a bill that severely curtails LGBTQ+ rights in the country and mirrors legislation adopted in neighboring Russia.
Shalva Papuashvili, the parliament speaker, said on social media that the legislation does “not reflect current, temporary, changing ideas and ideologies, but is based on common sense, historical experience and centuries-old Christian, Georgian and European values.”
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili had refused to sign the bill and returned it to parliament on Wednesday. It was introduced by the governing Georgian Dream party and approved by lawmakers last month.
The bill includes bans on same-sex marriages, adoptions by same-sex couples and public endorsement and depictions of LGBTQ+ relations and people in the media. It also bans gender-affirming care and changing gender designations in official documents.
“This law protects the rights of all citizens, including freedom of expression, so that the rights of others are not violated, which is the essence and idea of true democracy,” Papuashvili wrote.
Parliament gave the legislation its final approval as Georgia, a largely conservative country where the Orthodox Church wields significant influence, prepares to vote in a parliamentary election. The law has been widely seen as an effort by the governing party to shore up support among conservative groups. It was decried by human rights advocates and LGBTQ+ activists, who said it further marginalized an already vulnerable community.
By signing the law, Georgian Dream “have taken homophobia to a new level, and that is political and institutional homophobia,” said Ana Tavadze, an activist with Tbilisi Pride, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group.
Georgian Dream’s aim is to “fabricate” problems ahead of the election to distract people from “their failure” to solve issues involving unemployment, education and healthcare, Tavadze told The Associated Press.
The law has drawn comparisons with Russia, where the Kremlin has been highlighting what it calls traditional family values. Russian authorities in the last decade have banned public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” and introduced laws against gender-affirming care, among other measures. Its Supreme Court effectively outlawed LGBTQ+ activism by labeling what the authorities called the LGBTQ+ “movement” operating in Russia as an extremist organization and banning it.
In Georgia, the LGBTQ+ community has struggled even before the legislation was introduced. Demonstrations and violent outbursts against LGBTQ+ people have been common, and last year hundreds of opponents of gay rights stormed an LGBTQ+ festival in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, forcing the event’s cancellation. This year, tens of thousands marched in Tbilisi to promote “traditional family values.”
A day after parliament gave its final approval to the anti-LGBTQ+ bill, transgender actor and model Kesaria Avramidze was stabbed to death in her apartment in Tbilisi. Rights advocates had worried that the bill would stoke more violence.
Papuashvili, the parliament speaker, said that by not signing the bill, President Zourabichvili and the Georgian opposition “did not have enough courage to openly express their opinion regarding this law.”
