The bills, promoted by the ruling Georgian Dream party, aim to end what they call “LGBT propaganda,” including the rainbow flag and the Pride parade.
Georgia has just taken another step away from the European Union. He Georgian Parliament has given the green light in a first reading to a series of laws prohibiting “LBGT propaganda”as well as same-sex marriage and gender reassignment operations.
The package of laws was approved by 78 deputies, but opposition parliamentarians refused to vote. There are still two more votes in the fall for final approval.
According to the rules, government seeks to prohibit “alternative marital unions” and same-sex marriages, as well as prohibit the adoption of children by people who identify with a different gender or with a “non-traditional” orientation. In addition, they will put an end to gender reassignment surgery, and it will be prohibited to indicate a gender other than the biological one on official documents.
Media restrictions
The bills, promoted by the ruling Georgian Dream party, also aim to end what they call “LGBT propaganda” in educational institutions and the dissemination of information aimed at “popularizing” “non-traditional” relationships.
Georgia has been in the spotlight lately, especially after the passage of the so-called ‘Russian law’, legislation that requires any company (including media and NGOs) that receives more than 20% of its funding from abroad to register as “defender of the interests of a foreign power“.
The high representative of Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, said at the time that the ‘Russian law’ goes against accession ambitions from Georgia to the EU and must be eliminated entirely.
