Georgia’s parliament has adopted the ruling party’s homophobic legislative package in its third and final reading, banning ‘LGBT propaganda’, same-sex marriage, and gender affirming medical treatment. 

At the plenary session held on Tuesday, 84 MPs from the parliamentary majority voted in favour of adopting the draft law in the third and final hearing, with none voting against it.

They also voted on projects connected to the law, which similarly received the support of the majority.

Around 20 activists and civil society members gathered behind parliament to protest the draft law as it was being discussed and voted on.

Georgian Dream’s homophobic bill, consisting of one ‘main’ and 18 other related laws, lays the foundation for several restrictions and changes.

It 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. 

[Read more: Explainer | What’s in Georgia’s new anti-queer bill?]

On 4 September, 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’.

Opposition and civil society groups have repeatedly accused Georgian Dream of weaponising such legislation for electoral purposes ahead of the 26 October parliamentary elections.

Ahead of the bill’s passage, more than 30 civil society organisations issued a joint statement calling on the president to veto the package of laws and ‘not to allow the legalisation of hatred, censorship, and oppression’ to pass.

‘The package of laws is harmful and dangerous, as it actually amounts to legalising censorship and blatantly interfering with the right to assembly and demonstration’, the statement read.

‘The package essentially targets not only one group, the LGBTQ community, but also sets a precedent that in the future the government can deprive any citizen of their constitutionally guaranteed rights. There are many historical examples of how restricting the rights of one group becomes the beginning of a larger repression’.

The statement also called on Public Defender Levan Ioseliani to ‘take all measures for a critical public assessment of the package of laws and to challenge it in the relevant courts in the future’ and on ‘civil and political movements to take measures to stop the long-term impact of anti-democratic and anti-European initiatives’.