Tag Archives: Georgia (country)

Politico Europe reports: The Georgian government’s decision to suspend its efforts to join the EU has sparked a political crisis in the South Caucasus country, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets to demand new elections even as police launched a violent crackdown on protesters. An estimated 100,000 protesters formed barricades around the parliament on Saturday night, …

Reuters reports: Georgian lawmakers on Tuesday approved the third and final reading of a law on “family values and the protection of minors” that would impose sweeping curbs on LGBT rights. The bill would provide a legal basis for authorities to outlaw Pride events and public displays of the LGBT rainbow flag, and to impose censorship of films and books. …

Deutsche Welle reports: The latest effort to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ people in Georgia comes shortly after a “foreign agent” law was adopted in May despite weeks of unrest and pro-EU rallies. The Georgian parliament, where the ruling Georgian Dream party has a decisive majority, will start discussing the planned LGBTQ+ bill in the coming weeks. The final reading …

Politico Europe reports: The draft legislation, set out by the governing Georgian Dream party on Monday, aims to prohibit people from changing their gender, as well as outlaw same-sex couples from adopting children. According to Georgian Dream’s executive chair Mamuka Mdinaradze, Georgia’s constitution should be amended to allow marriage only of “a union of a single genetic male and a …

The BBC reports: European leaders have decided to open EU membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova and to grant candidate status to Georgia. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the decision, made at a summit in Brussels, as “a victory” for his country and Europe. A spokesperson for Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, said that agreement was unanimous. …

Politico Europe reports: Georgia’s annual LGBT+ Pride event was evacuated by the police on Saturday after hundreds of counter-protesters stormed the site. In a statement, organisers of the festival in the capital of Tbilisi announced that they had been forced to shut down the annual festivities after the authorities failed to maintain the perimeter. “Today’s developments indicate that today’s planned …

The Hill reports: Georgia President Salome Zourabichvili is on a mission in Washington to build support for her country as a key bulwark in case Russia seeks to expand its aggression beyond Ukraine. In an interview with The Hill, Zourabichvili said that she believes Moscow doesn’t have the capacity to move its military to launch another operation, but that “it …

Reuters reports: The State Department on Tuesday called for calm in the republic of Georgia after the death of a cameraman beaten up during violence against LGBT activists and said those who attacked peaceful protesters and journalists should be prosecuted. State Department spokesman Ned Price told a regular news briefing that Washington was following the situation in Georgia and was …

The EU Observer reports: Just weeks before Tbilisi Pride the ultra-conservative Georgian activist, Levan Vasadze, who is affiliated with the group that organised the counter-protests, held a press conference at the Tbilisi Marriott Hotel. Seated next to Vasadze as he announced his intention to enter Georgian politics was the American anti-LGBT activist Brian Brown. The moment encapsulated how even as …

The Associated Press reports: Several thousand people protested in front of the Georgian parliament on Sunday evening, demanding that the ex-Soviet nation’s prime minister resign over the death of a journalist who was attacked and beaten by anti-LGBT protesters. Cameraman Alexander Lashkarava was found dead in his home by his mother earlier Sunday, according to the TV Pirveli channel he …

Euronews reports: LGBT activists in Georgia have cancelled a Pride march in the capital Tbilisi after violent clashes ahead of the parade. Violent groups stormed and ransacked the office of gay rights campaigners on Monday, Georgian authorities confirmed. Activists posted photos and videos of people breaking into the premises and some journalists had reported that their equipment was broken in …

Reuters reports: Police in Georgia said on Saturday they had arrested more than 25 people after ultra-nationalist protesters attempting to derail the premiere of an award-winning movie about gay love clashed with security forces. A few hundred demonstrators blocked the road outside a cinema in the capital’s city center on Friday ahead of the first screening of “And Then We …

Democracy & Freedom Watch reports: President Giorgi Margvelashvili made it clear Tuesday evening that he does not support the proposed referendum about amending the Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The reason, Margvelashvili said at a briefing, is that there is already a proper definition of marriage in the Constitution. With two hundred …

The Guardian reports: A vegan cafe in the centre of Tbilisi was shocked to find itself the subject of far-right ire after a group arrived and threw meat on patrons’ plates, leading to a public brawl. Customers said a group entered the cafe wearing sausages around their necks and carrying slabs of meat on skewers, before attacking customers and staff. …

After several dozen increasingly desperate money begs since Obergefell, we knew that Brian Brown was going to have to find a new home for his open hatred of LGBT people. And since Brown has already worked with the viciously anti-LGBT World Congress of Families, today’s news comes as no surprise. Via press release: Brown was elected at the recent World …

You may recall that in May 2013 a mob of 20,000 rioters attacked a small gay rights rally in Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi. The attackers were led by priests from the Orthodox Church, which doesn’t want a repeat situation after a man this week filed a same-sex marriage lawsuit. Eurasianet reports: In a first for the Caucasus, a Georgian man …

Opera Australia has fired Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri after days of controversy over anti-gay comments she made about a pride parade in her home country. In a statement released on Monday, the company said Iveri would not be performing in its Sydney production of Otello in July and August. “Opera Australia has agreed with Tamar Iveri, to immediately release her …

The Associated Press: “Tensions gripping Ukraine spilled over into Georgia on Wednesday when a fight erupted in parliament over plans to support the Ukrainian opposition.”

As I reported over the weekend, on Friday an anti-gay mob of 20,000 rioters chased 50 gay rights activists through the streets of Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi.  Today the New York Times tracks the government’s non-response. Some of the priests leading the rock-throwing throngs who stormed past police cordons could be seen participating in the melee; one repeatedly slammed a …

“The right to gather peacefully and to freely express one’s opinion is fundamental to our democracy. Every Georgian citizen benefits fully and equally from this right. Acts of violence, discrimination and restriction of the rights of others will not be tolerated, and any perpetrators of such acts will be dealt with according to the law.” – Georgia Prime Minister Bidzina …