Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said in a Facebook post on Thursday that he had signed a law on “family values” that restricts LGBT rights. That was just weeks before a high-risk general election.
Lawmakers from the ruling Georgian Dream party approved the law last month. This bill bans gender transitions and could ban pride marches and the display of the LGBT rainbow flag. The party says the law is necessary to protect Georgia's Orthodox Christian Church from outsiders.
President Salome Zurabishvili, a critic of the ruling party, had refused to sign the bill into law. Georgian Dream and its allies in parliament had enough seats to overcome their opposition.
Georgian LGBT activists say the law is an attempt by the Georgian Dream party to shore up support among conservative voters ahead of Oct. 26 elections in which the party is seeking an unprecedented fourth term.
Criticism of the draft law
Some Western countries have criticized the bill, calling it part of what they say is a turn toward authoritarianism and rapprochement with Russia in a country that has turned primarily toward the West since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Opinion polls show Georgian Dream remains the country's single most popular party despite a divided opposition, although it has lost ground since 2020, when it won nearly 50% of the vote and a slim majority in parliament.
Relations with Russia
Georgian Dream, founded by the country's richest man, also passed a law requiring groups receiving funds from abroad to register as foreign agents. His opponents say it is modeled on legislation that criminalizes dissent in Russia.
Relations with Moscow have for decades overshadowed politics in Georgia, which was a candidate for NATO and the EU.
Moscow supports separatists in two ethnic regions that broke away from Tbilisi's rule in wars in the 1990s, and in 2008 Russian forces defeated Georgia in a short war. Georgian Dream argues that its opponents would bring about a return to war and says it would pursue more stable relations with Russia.
(with inputs from Reuters)