Georgia’s queer propaganda law has passed its second reading in parliament by 81 votes to zero.
The bill, supported by the ruling Georgian Dream Party, lays the foundation for a number of restrictions and changes.
According to IPN, the ruling party plans to adopt the legislative amendments in their third and final reading during the next plenary week, on 17–20 September.
The anti-queer legislative package ‘on the protection of family values and minors’ consists of one ‘main’ and 18 other related draft laws.
On Monday, the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Georgia supported the package in its second reading, making several changes including a new article defining the term ‘popularisation’, RFE/RL reported.
According to the new version of the bill, popularisation of queer relationships or of gender transitioning is defined as providing such information ‘objectively in the observer’s opinion’.
According to RFE/RL, the committee also added a prohibition on adopting to any ‘person who does not assign themself to any biological sex’. The previous version already included such a ban on trans people and people ‘whose sexual orientation does not belong to the category of heterosexuality’.
On Wednesday afternoon, the EU’s chief foreign affairs and security spokesperson, Peter Stano, said the EU deplored the bill’s rushed second reading.
‘This package undermines the fundamental rights of Georgian people and risks further stigmatisation and discrimination of part of the population’, his statement read.
‘The EU regrets that legislation with important repercussions on the EU integration path has been passed without due public consultations and a thorough analysis of its compliance with European and international standards’.
‘The EU calls on the Georgian authorities to entirely reconsider this legislative package. Such a proposal, combined with the restrictions on civil society imposed by the Law on transparency of foreign influence, will place further strain on EU-Georgia relations. The EU recalls that Georgia’s accession process is de facto halted and urges the authorities to recommit to the EU integration path’.
The ruling Georgian Dream party first announced plans to introduce a queerphobic legislative package to ban queer ‘propaganda’, gender affirmation treatment, and prevent queer people from adopting children at the beginning of June.
The bill is far-ranging, affecting education, healthcare, media, business, and public gatherings, and demonstratively prohibiting a number of rights that are unavailable to queer people in Georgia. It is expected to be adopted in September.
[Read more: Explainer | What’s in Georgia’s new anti-queer bill?]
Opposition and civil society groups have repeatedly stated that Georgian Dream was weaponising such legislation for electoral purposes ahead of the 26 October parliamentary elections.
However, opposition to contents of the legislation has been muted.
