Around Eastern Europe, the struggle for the rights of LGBTQI people can be said to balance on the thin line between hope and despair. In Georgia, politics is marked by contradictions between the ambition of EU membership and controversial legislation that regulates civil society, the media and now the rights of LGBTQI people.
On Thursday, October 3rd, the controversial "family values and protection of minors" law was passed in Georgia.
Leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party say the law is necessary to protect traditional moral values in Georgia, where the conservative Orthodox Church has great influence. But the law has drawn fierce criticism from activists and civil society organisations.
- The law means a severe restriction of human rights in the country and a serious deterioration of the freedoms and rights of LGBTQI people, says Natia Gvianishvili, who is senior international influence advisor at RFSL, in a comment to Utvecklingsmagasinet.
Material that can be considered "promoting" same-sex relationships and trans identities is to be censored on television, and public demonstrations for the rights of LGBTQI people are prohibited.
Gvianishvili explains that the situation for LGBTQI people in Georgia has been tough for a long time. For example, in 2017 the parliament decided on a definition of marriage that excludes variants other than that between a man and a woman.
In 2021, there was an attack on Tbilisi Pride where over 50 journalists were seriously injured. No proper police investigation was ever done.
- It is clear that the governing party Georgian Dream is resorting to homo-bi-transphobia again to try to mobilize sympathy from its voters before the election on October 26, 2024, she believes.
Gvianishvili points out that polls before the election show that Georgians are mainly concerned about other issues such as EU membership, security, economy, healthcare and unemployment, but that the government is trying to secure support before the election by spreading negative attitudes towards LGBTQI people.
Democratic decline prompts EU to withdraw aid
Georgia has previously received criticism for its law on "foreign agents" which is considered inspired by similar legislation in Russia. This particular law is also cited as the reason why Georgia's accession process to the EU has been paused. Georgia's LGBTQ law is also seen as mirroring rhetoric in Russia.
That countries say they want to counter so-called "propaganda for LGBTQI rights" is nothing unusual in the region. Gvianishvili highlights Russia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Lithuania as examples.
In a statement warned the European Commission's chief spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy, Peter Stano, that the LGBTI law could harm Georgia's process to become a full member state.
- Such a proposal, in combination with the restrictions on civil society introduced by the law on transparency in foreign influence, will entail additional strains on relations between the EU and Georgia, he writes.
On the eighth of October, the EU's ambassador to Georgia, Pawel Herczynski, announced to Reuters that Georgia would be deprived of 121 million euros in EU aid due to its "democratic decline".
Last Saturday, October 27, Georgians went to the polls. The preliminary election results indicate that the Georgian dream wins the election, but the result is hotly contested. Opposition parties call the election "stolen". Even the President, who represents a party other than Georgian Dream, urges residents to go out in protest against the alleged electoral fraud.
In recent days, international election observers have reported several irregularities. Among them the OSCE and NATO who questioned the validity of the election in a joint statement.
Regardless of the final election result, RFSL's Gvianishvili believes that it is important that Sweden does not give up the dialogue on the rights of LGBTQI people with Georgia.
- We want to say that no matter how it goes after the election, it is important, Firstly, to Sweden continues to provide support to hbtqi-movement in Georgia and, Second, to Sweden and other allied countries continue to promote LGBTQI-rights as one of the prerequisites for democracy and the principles of the rule of law, says she in conclusion.