Georgian parliament speaker signs law curbing LGBT rights

3/10/2024 18:36

        Georgian parliamentary speaker Shalva Papuashvili said in a Facebook post on Thursday that he had signed into law a "family values" bill curbing LGBT rights, just weeks before a high-stakes parliamentary election.
        
        Lawmakers from the ruling Georgian Dream party last month approved the bill, which bans gender transitions and could outlaw pride marches and displays of the LGBT rainbow flag. The party says the law is necessary to protect Georgia's Orthodox Christian church from outsiders.
        
        President Salome Zourabichvili, a critic of the ruling party, had refused to sign the bill into law. Georgian Dream and its allies in parliament had enough seats to overcome her opposition.
        
        Georgian LGBT activists say that the law is an attempt by Georgian Dream to boost support among conservative voters ahead of the Oct. 26 election, in which the party is seeking an unprecedented fourth term in power.
        
        Some Western countries have criticised the bill, casting it as part of what they say is a turn towards authoritarianism and alignment with Russia in country that had mainly leaned towards the West since the breakup of the Soviet Union.