The Georgian Orthodox Church is to host 400 marriages on 17 May, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT). The Church declared 17 May the Family Purity Day in 2014, a year after a priest-led rally attacked a small group of queer rights activists who gathered to protest discrimination.
The mass wedding will be organised by the Patriarchate’s Chokhosnebi, a conservative group famous for wearing traditional Georgian male dress chokha and advocating ‘Georgian traditions’ and ‘family values’.
Zviad Sekhniashvili, the head of the group told Netgazeti they were hosting the mass wedding on 17 May on purpose. Sekhniashvili also said that they would give priority to couples who already lived together but didn’t get married yet.
According to Sekhniashvili, 20 couples will get married in a ceremony in Tbilisi and up to 400 couples will get married in the country.
It is expected that queer rights activists will hold a demonstration on the same day to mark IDAHOT.
Civil partnerships
In 2017, Georgia’s Parliament adopted a package of constitutional amendments, one of which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. This definition already existed in the law and since queer rights groups never demanded equal marriage rights, they accused the Parliament of populism.
Georgia’s Public Defender has called on the government to legally recognise same-sex relationships, for example with civil partnerships. In their 2017 report, the Public Defender also denounced recent constitutional changes defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
The 2 April report said the amendments to the constitution will worsen homophobia and spread hatred in society. It said that unless queer relationships are legally recognised, the constitution ‘will contradict the standards of the European Court of Human Rights and the OSCE’s recommendations’.
Campaign for civil partnerships
The Equality Movement, a local queer right’s group, launched a campaign in April to raise awareness for the concept of civil partnerships for same-sex couples. The organisation created several videos in which queer couples and activists share their experiences.
IDAHOT 2013 and Family Purity Day
In 2013, a small group of around 50 queer rights activists were confronted in Tbilisi by thousands of counter-demonstrators led by Georgian Orthodox priests. Demonstrators carried posters with homophobic messages such as: ‘We don’t need Sodom and Gomorrah in Georgia’.
The crowds, some carrying nettles to beat queer rights activists with, broke through police lines to attack the activists. Police were forced to evacuate the small number of activists from the city centre to avoid further violence.
Georgia’s Orthodox Church has been commemorating Family Purity Day on May 17 since 2014. The Church held a counter-rally from Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue to Sameba Cathedral in support of ‘family values’. The rally was attended by several thousand people.
International Day Against Homophobia is observed annually in more than 120 countries on 17 May. The date was chosen to commemorate the World Health Organisation’s decision in 1990 to remove homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases.
Homophobic violence in Georgia
In 2017, the Prosecutor’s Office examined 86 alleged hate crimes, 12 out of which were based on sexual orientation and 37 on gender identity.
The Public Defender’s report says violence against queer people, whether in the family or in public spaces, is a serious problem, and that the government has been unable to respond to this challenge.
The report said the Public Defender received numerous complaints regarding homophobic attitudes from law enforcement officials.
‘In some cases, complainants withdrew cases and refused to cooperate with the general inspection or the Prosecutor’s Office because they didn’t believe an investigation into their cases would be timely’, the report reads.
The report said transgender women in particular often appeal to the Public Defender’s Office about violence they face.
‘Unfortunately, law enforcement officials don’t have an efficient strategy against hate motivated violence. They react to individual cases and don’t take action against the systematic problem’, the report reads.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has announced plans to introduce a queerphobic legislative package that would ban queer ‘propaganda’, gender affirmation treatment, and prevent queer people from adopting children.
Parliamentary speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday announced that the legislative package would consist of one ‘main’ and 18 other related draft laws.
Papuashvili said the package would be focused on eight main points, including a legislative ban on same-sex marriage, legally ba
Backlash continues over Georgia’s foreign agent law, as the Church marks Family Purity Day.
Read more:
* Georgian parliament adopts foreign agent law
* Government critics attacked outside their homes in Georgia
* Georgian Dream to create database of ‘undesirables’
* Ivanishvili touts conspiracy theories at massive pro-government rally in Tbilisi
* Georgian Dream eliminates taxes on offshore assets brought to Georgia
* Explainer | Why is Georgian Dream reviving the foreign agent law?
The usual stand-off between supporters of queer rights and homophobic counter-protesters did not take place this 17 May in Tbilisi, as Georgia marked International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia under a state of emergency. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, however, ‘blessmobiles’ laden with priests still roamed the streets spraying holy water on pedestrians.
Queer rights activists abstained from holding a demonstration in Tbilisi for this year’s International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia over safety concerns. Next month, Tbilisi is expected to host its first ever queer pride event.
After warnings from far-right groups that anti-homophobic demonstrations would be met with violence, the Equality Movement, Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group, and other queer rights groups decided to limit themselves to online campaigns only o
The Georgian Orthodox Church is to host 400 marriages on 17 May, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT). The Church declared 17 May the Family Purity Day in 2014, a year after a priest-led rally attacked a small group of queer rights activists who gathered to protest discrimination.
