A controversial law restricting the rights of LGBTQ+ people in Georgia was promulgated on Thursday by the President of Parliament, who thus circumvented a refusal by the head of state, accentuating a conservative turn three weeks before the legislative elections.
This is the second legislation deemed restrictive, after that on “foreign influence” adopted in June. The government is accused by its detractors of abandoning the European ambitions of this Caucasian country to move closer to Russia.
“In accordance with the Constitution, I signed today the law on family values and the protection of minors that President Salomé Zourabichvili did not sign” on Wednesday, Chalva Papouachvili, member of the ruling party, announced on Facebook Georgian dream.
In Georgia, the presidency has limited powers unlike the majority in Parliament which has broad prerogatives.
President Zourabichvili, breaking with the government, confirmed during an interview with AFP that she refused to sign this “anti-European” text because she “does not agree with this law”. “Today there is a parliamentary majority that does what it wants,” she regretted.
“Contrary” to European values
According to her, there are a total of six laws recently passed by the ruling party which are “contrary to the spirit and letter of European recommendations” and which will have to be “repealed” if the pro-European forces win in the legislative elections of October 26.
MPs from the Georgian Dream, the party of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, voted for this text cutting into the rights of LGBTQ+ people in September during a vote boycotted by the opposition.
This legislation prohibits “propaganda of homosexual relations and incest” in schools and television broadcasts and also restricts “rallies” and “demonstrations”.
Rights groups have criticized this wording, which equates incest and homosexuality and limits freedom of assembly.
This law also prohibits gender reassignment, adoption by homosexuals and transgender people and annuls same-sex marriages previously celebrated by Georgian citizens abroad.
This text “undermines the fundamental rights of Georgians and risks reinforcing stigmatization and discrimination against part of the population,” the European Union estimated at the beginning of September.
Pro-Russian drift
The Speaker of Parliament, Chalva Papouashvili, for his part defended a law “based on common sense, historical experience and centuries-old Christian, Georgian and European values, rather than on changing ideas and ideologies”.
He assured that the law protected “the rights of all citizens”.
As the legislative elections on October 26 approach, the skirmishes are increasing between the Georgian Dream, a conservative party critical of Westerners, and the pro-Western opposition which accuses the government of pro-Russian drift.
The Russian army also invaded part of Georgia in 2008 and supports two separatist republics there.
Officially, the Georgian authorities still aim to join NATO and the EU, but the adoption of several controversial pieces of legislation has fueled tensions with the West and within the country.
Georgia was shaken in the spring by massive demonstrations to denounce the law against “foreign influence”, inspired by a repressive Russian text. Here too, Western criticism was brushed aside by those in power.
The EU warned that the repressive legislation adopted would have “significant repercussions” on Georgia’s integration process.
The United States, for its part, imposed sanctions on 60 Georgians, including two government officials “for their involvement in serious human rights violations during the violent response to the demonstrations.”
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, for his part, threatened to “review” his country’s ties with Washington.
In Russia, legislation repressing “LGBTQ+ propaganda” was passed around ten years ago and has been considerably strengthened since. What it describes as the “international LGBTQ+ movement” was even added to its list of entities declared “terrorists and extremists”, although no organization bears that name in this country.