Georgia's parliament passes bill restricting LGBT rights

Georgia lawmakers on September 17 approved a bill on “family values ​​and protection of minors,” imposing restrictions on the LGBT community in many areas.

A crowd of people protesting for LGBT rights in Tbilisi, Georgia. (Source: AP)

The bill would provide the government with the legal basis to restrict Pride events (an annual parade of the LGBT community), the display of LGBT rainbow flags in public, and to impose stricter censorship on related films and books.

According to Dream Party leaders, this is necessary to protect Georgia's traditional moral standards, a place where the conservative Orthodox Church has a deep-seated influence.

Social activists argue that the bill aims to bolster support for the government ahead of the parliamentary elections on October 26.

According to Tamara Jakeli, director of Tbilisi Pride, this bill strengthens the existing ban on same-sex marriage and gender reassignment surgery, potentially forcing her organization to close.

"The bill is the most horrific thing that has ever happened to the LGBT community in Georgia," Director Jakeli said.

Georgia President Salome Zourabichvili has declared she will block the bill. However, her Dream Party and its allies currently hold enough seats in Congress to override the president's veto.

LGBT rights are a sensitive topic in Georgia; besides the constitution prohibiting same-sex marriage, many people also oppose same-sex relationships. In recent years, participants in the annual Pride parades in Tbilisi have been attacked by anti-LGBT protesters.

This issue became even more prominent ahead of the October 2024 election, when the Georgia Dream party would be campaigning for its fourth consecutive term and conducting aggressive campaigns against LGBT rights.

Tamara Jakeli, director of the Tbilisi Pride organization, said the bill could only be blocked if the Dream Party loses the October 2024 election, although opposition parties do not fully support LGBT rights either.

According to Tamara Jakel, "the only way we can survive and make progress for LGBT rights is to participate in elections in large numbers and vote for change."

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