Georgia signed laws on Thursday October 3 that will restrict LGBTQ+ rights, despite the EU warning they undermine Tbilisi's membership ambitions. The legislation has been likened to repressive Russian laws and represents the latest anti-liberal move by the ruling Georgian Dream party ahead of crucial parliamentary elections later this month.
The speaker of Georgia's parliament said he signed the controversial “family values” law after pro-Western President Salome Zurabishvili – who is at loggerheads with the government – refused to do so. “In accordance with the Constitution, today I signed the law 'On Family Values and Protection of Minors', which Salome Zurabishvili did not sign,” spokeswoman Shalva Papuashvili said on Facebook.
The measures are similar to Moscow's “homosexual propaganda” law and fuel allegations that Tbilisi has moved closer to Moscow as part of its invasion of Ukraine. The law will restrict “the propaganda of same-sex relationships and incest in educational institutions and television broadcasts.”
Human rights groups have criticized such language because it equates homosexual relationships with “incest.” It also bans gender reassignment surgery, gay and transgender adoption, and annuls same-sex marriages performed abroad.
Dangerous environment
Georgian Dream pushed the bill through parliament last month in a vote boycotted by the opposition, reigniting tensions ahead of the October 26 general election. The party, controlled by mysterious billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, is trying to win a supermajority that would allow it to constitutionally ban pro-Western opposition parties.
Papuashvili rejected criticism that the law violated European values. The latest measures are based “on common sense, historical experience and centuries-old Christian, Georgian and European values, rather than on changing ideas and ideologies,” he said, adding that “the law protects the rights of all citizens.”
However, human rights groups and Western countries have said this is discriminatory and creates a dangerous environment for LGBTQ+ people. Last month, a well-known Georgian transgender woman was stabbed to death in her apartment, an attack that came a day after Parliament voted for the bill.
“Stigmatization and discrimination”
Tbilisi has increasingly come into conflict with Brussels in recent years, even though the EU granted the country official “candidate status”. The Black Sea state passed a “foreign influence law” targeting NGOs earlier this year, sparking weeks of mass anti-government protests and Western condemnation.
Brussels has repeatedly warned that such measures would deviate Georgia from its stated goal of joining the EU. Last month it said the LGBTQ+ rights bill “undermines the fundamental rights of Georgians and risks further stigmatization and discrimination against a portion of the population.” It warned that the law would have a “significant impact” on Tbilisi’s European integration path and “further strain EU-Georgia relations.”
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The United States has also pushed back against Tbilisi. In September, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced visa restrictions for 60 Georgians, including senior government officials who he said were “responsible for or complicit in the undermining of democracy in Georgia.” “We remain concerned about human rights violations and anti-democratic actions in Georgia and will continue to consider additional measures in response,” he said in a statement.
Georgia's Prime Minister Iraqi Kobakhidze has threatened that the long-Western country could “revise” its ties with the United States if Washington imposes further sanctions on Georgian officials.
After initially pursuing a liberal, pro-Western political agenda when it came to power in 2012, Georgian Dream has strengthened its anti-Western and anti-liberal positions in the last two years.
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