TBILISI, Georgia — Georgian lawmakers on Tuesday approved the third and final reading of a law on “family values and protection of minors,” which would impose sweeping restrictions on LGBTQ rights.
The bill would provide legal grounds for authorities to ban pride events and the public display of the LGBT rainbow flag, and impose censorship of films and books.
Leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party say the move is necessary to uphold traditional moral standards in a country where the deeply conservative Orthodox Church holds great influence.
Activists say the move is aimed at boosting conservative support for the government ahead of parliamentary elections on Oct. 26. Western governments fear Georgia is now leaning again to Russia despite its ambitions to join the European Union.
Tamara Jakeli, director of campaign group Tbilisi Pride, said the bill would reaffirm existing bans on same-sex marriage and also ban gender reassignment surgery, likely forcing her group to close.
“This law is the most frightening thing for the LGBT community in Georgia,” Jakeli, 28, told Reuters. “We will probably have to close down. We have no way to continue functioning.”
Georgia’s President, Salome Zourabichvili, has criticized the Georgian Dream party, whose power is largely ceremonial, and has said she will block the bill, but her party and its allies have enough seats in parliament to override her veto.
LGBT rights are a difficult issue in Georgia: public opinion polls show widespread opposition to same-sex relationships, the constitution bans same-sex marriage, and in recent years participants in Tbilisi’s annual Pride parade have come under physical attack from anti-LGBT protesters.
The issue has become even more pronounced ahead of elections in October, where Georgian Dream is seeking a fourth term in power and campaigning strongly against LGBT rights.
The ruling party, whose leading candidate is billionaire former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, is deepening ties with neighbouring Russia at a time of deteriorating ties with the West.
Earlier this year, Georgia passed a law on “foreign agents” that critics in Europe and the United States say is authoritarian and Russian-influenced, sparking some of the largest protests in Georgia since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The party, which passed a law banning anti-LGBT discrimination in 2014 and has since shifted to a more conservative stance, remains the most popular in Georgia, according to polls, but has lost support since 2020, when it won a slim majority in the Legislature.
A ruling party ad aired on Georgian television showed Pride director Jakeli’s face next to the words “No to moral decadence.”
Jakeli said the bill could only be blocked if Georgian Dream lost power in October, but noted that the country’s opposition parties do not openly support LGBT rights.
“The only way we can survive and advance LGBT rights in this country is if people go to the polls in droves and vote for change,” she said.