Lesbians, gays and transsexuals of Georgia, in the target: the end of the free capital of the Caucasus

The murder of Kesaria Abramidze was a blow to the LGTBIQ+ community in Georgia. On September 18, the transsexual model and presenter was stabbed repeatedly. Neighbors found his lifeless body in the middle of a pool of blood. The confessed author, arrested and facing up to 20 years in prison, was his ex-partner, a 26-year-old young man with whom – according to the victim had written on social networks a few months before – he had a “toxic relationship.” If she, one of the most famous personalities in the Caucasian country, had not been able to avoid this fateful end and – according to some local media – the security forces had not paid attention to her complaints, how are the remaining members of the group going to survive? community to the growing atmosphere of hatred that is descending on Georgia?, ask activists and gays, lesbians, transsexuals and the rest of the community of the Caucasian country.

Only 24 hours before the brutal crime, the Georgian Parliament had approved the “Law on Family Values ​​and Protection of Minors”, a draconian text that prohibits any public manifestation of what could be considered LGTBIQ+ “propaganda”. “Hate policies have serious consequences: oppression, marginalization and violence against the collective. The murder of Kesaria Abramidze cannot be understood without the heavy context that surrounds it,” denounced the Tbilisi Center for Social Justice.

Although Georgian society is largely conservative, liberal legislation passed over the last two decades had made civil society flourish; dozens of rights groups or groups involved in different social issues had emerged and taken root. Tbilisi thus became the free capital of the region: a rallying point for pacifists from Armenia and Azerbaijan; a residence for exiles from neighboring autocracies; a safe space for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.

“Although it was slow, there was progress. We organized festivals, conferences. State policies were updated and mentions of sexual diversity were added. We worked on training police officers,” recalls Mariami Kvaratskhelia, co-founder of Tbilisi Pride and leader of the activist group Queer Initiative: “LGTBIQ+ people from Iran, Lebanon, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Chechnya… came to live here because they felt freer, safer.” Not anymore. Hundreds have fled Georgia in recent years and more will do so if the current Government of the Georgian Dream party is confirmed in power after last October’s elections, which the opposition refuses to recognize because it considers them fraudulent.

The formation led by the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili has undertaken an ultra-conservative turn copied from Russia and Hungary that has targeted people who move away from the heteronormative. “In 2021, slightly more progressive politicians and leaders abandoned Georgian Dream and we saw a shift towards right-wing postulates and policies. And, starting in 2023, they became really radical,” explains Kvaratskhelia. There are various reasons for this change, depending on who you ask: the Government’s approach to Vladimir Putin’s Russia, getting along with the influential Georgian church or – according to the activist – changing the focus of the debate towards new narratives that allow it to remain in the can. The point is that people began to talk, day and night, about the need to protect families and children from “harmful LGTBI propaganda.” “Mentions of this community were removed from all public policy documents, our actions were banned, and the police stopped protecting us,” says Kvaratskhelia.

That year 2021, Tbilisi Pride and other organizations called for a Pride march on the central Rustaveli Avenue. But they were attacked by militants from Alt-Info, a far-right channel that has become a political group and is accused of being financed by Russia. Anna Tavadze, activist queer and a member of the Shame movement – another of the organizers – was there: “It was horrible, brutal. They began to attack the journalists, more than 30 were injured. They chased the activists from one place to another, and went on to attack the offices of Shame and Tbilisi Pride. The police did nothing to stop them.” The then Prime Minister, Irakli Garibashvili, said that it was “unacceptable for most of society” (the Pride march, not the attack). So the following year Pride was held in a venue away from the center, under heavy security measures.

In 2023, they attempted to replicate the 2022 festival, even inviting foreign diplomats as a security measure: but the Alt-Info thugs showed up again, vandalizing the stages and setting the footage on fire. “The police let the counter-demonstration get so close that suddenly they started throwing bottles and stones at us and I told myself, if I don’t escape they will kill me. The police started shouting for us to evacuate, so we realized that it was a plan to allow Alt-Info to attack the festival,” says Tavadze: “None of those involved have been tried, which sends the message that if you attack to the people queerYou will not receive any punishment.”

This year, the homes of numerous activists have been attacked, including that of Kvaratskhelia. One day in May, the door and all the floors of her building appeared covered with posters with her face and name, indicating her as “LGTBI Activist” and “Foreign Agent Sold.” “In addition, my girlfriend and I have suffered harassment campaigns on-lineand my father, who is sick with cancer, has been called several times to intimidate him and demand that he stop my activities,” he says.

Fear and exile

In 2023, the Georgian Dream party was invited to the CPAC (the annual conference organized by American ultraconservative movements) held in Budapest, where it presented itself as part of the “anti-gender ideology” movement, which led to the expulsion of the Georgian party. of the Party of European Socialists. From there, Georgian politicians returned loaded with arguments and their speeches became increasingly bizarre: in the last election campaign, Ivanishvili even said that, in the West, minors are forced to participate in orgies during marches. Pride and that “they want to equate the milk of men and women.”

The ruling deputy Nikoloz Samkharadze argues that his new “family values” law is not against LGTBIQ+ people, but rather tries to “protect minors” and prevent “gender issues” from being taught in schools, something that did not happen in Georgia. The reality is that the new legislation, which came into force in December, prohibits any public act that could be considered “propaganda” in favor of this group, as well as any artistic or media manifestation that could give a “positive” image of homosexuality. . And it decrees a national holiday on May 17, which internationally is the “Day against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia”, but which in Georgia will be celebrated as the “Day of the sanctity of the family and respect for parents”.

Even more serious, the law prohibits any sex change intervention, including hormonal treatments, under prison sentences for doctors. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has requested the withdrawal of the law, since it violates the rights “to equality, non-discrimination, education, health, freedom of expression, free association and assembly, privacy, freedom and security.”

Furthermore, Tavadze emphasizes, this law joins the law on foreign agents approved in spring, which persecutes associations that receive donations from abroad, which will endanger organizations that offer essential services: “For our community, NGOs have been the only source of health services, psychosocial support and reporting and documentation of hate crimes.” For the activist, what the legislation seeks is to make homosexual people “invisible” again, to send them back to the “underground”.

“Everyone is afraid and that is why they are leaving. Even activists, people who worked in associations. They leave for Belgium, Germany, Holland, the United States… I know this because I receive their messages every day,” Kvaratskhelia laments: “But there are also others who stay and will continue fighting.”