Georgian parliament speaker signs anti-LGBTQ+ bill into law after president refuses

The speaker of the Georgian parliament has today (3 October) signed a controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill into law only 24 hours after the country’s president refused to do so.

The so-called ‘Protection of Family Values and Minors’ bill, which was first introduced by the governing Georgian Dream party and approved by parliament last month, bans marriage equality, LGBTQ+ adoption, the depiction and promotion of LGBTQ+ relationships and people in the media, gender affirming care, and the ability for individuals to change their gender identity on official documents.

Yesterday (2 October), Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, whose role is mostly ceremonial, decided not to sign the bill into legislation, with a spokesperson telling the news agency AFP that she had returned it to parliament, where the speaker then signed it into law.

“The law…does not reflect current, temporary, changing ideas and ideologies” – Shalva Papuashvili, Georgian parliament speaker

According to Aljazeera, the Georgian Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, told local media that Zourabichvili had failed families and children.

He said: “The fact that Salome Zourabichvili did not stand on the side of protecting traditional and family values, not on the side of protecting the interests of minors, but on the side of pseudo-liberal propaganda, once again shows what political choice this person made and what forces [she] is governed by.”

In a post on Facebook, Shalva Papuashvili, the parliament speaker, also criticised Zourabichvili’s decision, adding: “The law, which I am signing, 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.”

“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,” he wrote.

The new law, which will come into play in 60 days, has been compared to similar legislation enacted in Russia, with LGBTQ+ activist groups arguing that it further marginalises the country’s queer community.

It comes amid rising violence against the country’s LGBTQ+ community. In 2021, a Pride parade in the capital Tbilisi was cancelled following a targeted attack against organisers, activists and journalists. A similar violent anti-LGBTQ+ protest took place during the city’s Pride event last year.

Likewise, the day after the bill was initially approved by the Georgian parliament, a 37-year-old trans woman, Kesaria Abramidze, was murdered in her home.

In a statement released after Abramidze’s murder, the Social Justice Center, a Tbilisi-based human rights group, said: “There is a direct correlation between the use of hate speech in politics and hate crimes.”

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Silveresc