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One year ago, anti-LGBTQ+ protesters violently听听a Pride festival in Georgia鈥檚 capital, Tbilisi, and forced its cancellation. The attack was听: assaults on LGBTQ+ events in the country are a听.

Georgia鈥檚 LGBTQ+ people are also often used as scapegoats by political parties to distract the population from problems such as听. So, with parliamentary elections coming up in October, Tbilisi Pride decided it would not hold any public events in 2024. In a post on Facebook, the organisers听听about safety and hostile pre-election rhetoric.

But the future of events such as the Pride festival has now become uncertain for another reason, too. The country鈥檚 ruling Georgian Dream party, which is seeking a historic fourth term in office, wants to introduce a series of bans that would curtail the rights of LGBTQ+ people, including their freedoms of speech and assembly.

Georgian Dream is no stranger to queerphobic rhetoric. And it has responded to the violence and discrimination against gender and sexual minorities only reluctantly,听. However, the party鈥檚 abuse of its parliamentary majority against LGBTQ+ people marks a new chapter in the struggle for their rights.

The ruling party launched its legislative assault on LGBTQ+ rights in early spring when it听听it would introduce constitutional changes to 鈥減rotect family values and minors鈥�. But, as Georgian Dream lacked the required constitutional majority and the opposition was unlikely to support the government鈥檚 initiatives, the听听as a distraction.

Georgian Dream reintroduced the idea in June as a set of bills requiring a simple majority, which the party possesses with its听, People鈥檚 Power. The听听consists of a听听鈥渙n family values and protection of minors鈥� and amendments to several existing laws.

It seeks to erase information 鈥減romoting鈥� LGBTQ+ topics from public spaces, educational settings and broadcasting. It also targets trans people specifically, proposing to ban gender-affirming medical treatments and legal transitioning, as well as punishing employers if they respect a trans person鈥檚 gender identity.

LGBTQ+ people would be banned from adopting children, too. And marriage would be limited to the heterosexual union of two cisgender people 鈥� or those of听听in the language of the proposal.

The package听听its first reading on June 27. Its second and third readings are expected to take place when parliament reopens in September in the run-up to the parliamentary elections.

A new chapter

The proposal marks a new stage in Georgian Dream鈥檚 use of queerphobia to score political points. Until now, the party has听听avoided taking overt measures against LGBTQ+ people. Its strategy has instead been a combination of stoking anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments in society by engaging in queerphobic rhetoric, and听听to act on anti-queer violence or placing the blame on the victims.

In 2021, for instance, the then prime minister, Irakli Gharibashvili,听听on Tbilisi Pride activists to drop their plan to hold a public Pride march, claiming this would provoke a negative reaction from society.

Far-right protesters听听into the office of Tbilisi Pride on the day of the event, forcing organisers to cancel the march. Only a handful of perpetrators were prosecuted and no one was held accountable for organising the听, something the Georgian Young Lawyers鈥� Association听听to the state鈥檚 鈥渓ack of necessary will鈥�. Gharibashvili later听听for acting against the will of the majority.

At the same time, the country鈥檚 aspirations to become a member of the EU seemingly imposed a limit on what Georgian Dream could tolerate. The state provided heavy police protection to LGBTQ+ events attended by foreign diplomats under the condition that they took place in private venues. This allowed Tbilisi Pride to organise a festival in 2022听.

This contract broke down in 2023. The police put up little听听to a group of anti-LGBTQ+ protesters who stormed the venue of the Tbilisi Pride festival hours before its start. Tbilisi Pride concluded that the state must have colluded with the protesters by听听them to break up the event before the arrival of international guests.

Around this time, representatives of Georgian Dream also doubled down on their听听rhetoric. On July 3, the Democratic Research Institute听听that while 鈥渉omophobic and anti-gender rhetoric was a niche of far-right groups鈥� in previous years, 鈥渢oday it has been completely taken over by Georgian Dream鈥�.

The party is moving beyond the use of hate speech and tolerating anti-queer violence to persecuting LGBTQ+ people. The consequences will be far-reaching. But the effect will be most devastating for trans people, who already face exclusion from the labour market, discrimination in access to healthcare, and abuse.

It will ban educational and visibility campaigns, and it could also hinder the less visible but no less crucial work of NGOs that provide services to LGBTQ+ people. Some of these organisations have already been targeted by the so-called听, which parliament approved recently amid massive street听.

The legislative package will also deliver a blow to Georgia鈥檚 prospects of becoming a member of the EU. In 2022, the European Commission听听鈥渢he protection of human rights of vulnerable groups鈥� as one of the 12 priorities Georgia was supposed to address to be granted candidate status.

础肠迟颈惫颈蝉迟蝉听听that electoral defeat for Georgian Dream in the upcoming elections would lead to the scrapping of both controversial laws. However,听听indicate that Georgian Dream remains the most popular party, and previous elections have been marked by听听of pressure on voters and听听to the ruling party鈥檚 advantage.

Links

• Original article in
• David Rypel's academic profile
• UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)
• UCL Arts & Humanities

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