The country of Georgia has taken inspiration from Russia’s harsh laws curtailing LGBTQ free expression and basic rights with their own anti-queer legislation. The law bans same-sex marriages, same-sex adoption, gender affirming care, and gender affirming name changes on official documents. The new law also censors media representation of LGBTQ+ people and bans Pride events from taking place.
Georgia’s president made headline news by refusing to sign the bigoted bill.
Unfortunately for LGBTQ Georgians this doesn’t mean protection. The parliamentary speaker stepped in and signed the bill into law.
Just one day after Georgia’s parliament approved the anti-LGBTQ bill, Georgian transgender actor and model Kesaria Abramidze was murdered in her apartment.
A man was arrested for the murder. Unsurprisingly he was someone she knew – because most violence against women is committed by someone familiar to them.
Abramidze was one of Georgia’s first openly trans figures, and she was killed because she had the courage to be herself and be open about her identity, in hopes that doing so might humanize trans people.
As in some other countries, Georgians haven’t just decided on their own that LGBTQ people are sub human. They’ve been goaded in this direction by a political party that cosigns violence against queer people and spreads homophobia and transphobic messages.
It’s so important to bring visibility to laws like this, whether it’s overseas or closer to home. Queer people know that bigoted laws come with real costs for our health, safety, and wellbeing.
Our opponents don’t want us to be seen as fully human. In fact they don’t want us to be seen at all. This is why all those anti-LGBTQ bills focus on banning queer representation in books, TV shows and movies. They ban gender-affirming medical treatment or make it cost-prohibitive.
Georgia applied to join the European Union in 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Their EU application got put on hold, and this new political stance certainly isnโt in alignment with other EU member nation policies toward LGBTQ rights.
Check out top European destinations for LGBTQ travel, where you can be fully yourself.
By passing laws like this, is Georgia trying to appease Russia? Are we just pawns in their political game?
These aren’t rhetorical questions. Georgia has an election coming up on October 26 that may shed light on whether the country is going to continue drifting rightward, or whether those in Georgia who hope to one day join the EU will realize policies and laws like these are not in their best interests, and work to move the country forward.
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