Members of Tbilisi Pride (Salome Chaduneli /On.ge)
Queer activists held an impromptu queer pride march in Tbilisi amidst threats from homophobic groups. That same day, ultra-conservative protesters faced off with anti-Putin protesters at the Georgian parliament after failing to thwart Tbilisi Pride.
Queer rights activists calling for police protection for Tbilisi Pride on 14 June. (Mari Nikuradze / OC Media)
The organisers of Tbilisi Pride have evacuated their office after two of them received death threats from unidentified numbers. Several ultra-conservative groups organised marches in Tbilisi on Wednesday against Pride. [Read more…]
(Illustration: Dato Parulava)
Giorgi Ptskialadze is a spokesperson and executive committee member of the Georgian Young Greens. He has been involved in queer, feminist, left-wing, and green activism since 2017.
With its focus on personal freedom, Tbilisi Pride fits well into a liberal system in which queer people are used as tools in bigger political games and social solidarity is fast eroding. There can be no equality in Georgia as long as this system stands. [Read more…]
Protest of queer rights activists on 14 June 2019 at the government office. (Mari Nikuradze / OC Media)
Georgia’s Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has said that the queer rights are not a ‘problematic issue’ in Georgia, despite a homophobic mob surrounding and attempting to attack a small gathering of queer rights activists last week. [Read more…]
(Illustration: Dato Parulava; photo: Dina Oganova)
Giorgi Tabagari is a queer activist from Tbilisi and one of the organisers of Tbilisi Pride. He has worked for a number of local and international organisations across Europe, primarily focusing on the media, queer human rights, and EU affairs.
The worsening rights situation has forced many queer Georgians to leave the country. Georgian politicians and civil society need to make a choice, do they want a western, or a Russian-style democracy. [Read more…]
Georgia’s first ever queer pride event is to take place in Tbilisi in June to demand ‘dignified and peaceful’ lives for queer people. Organisers said they would not hold a festive march because ‘Georgian queer people have little to celebrate’, while far-right groups vowed to thwart it. [Read more…]
Gelendzhik (tourprom.ru)
Authorities in a number of cities in Krasnodar Krai have rejected a request to hold queer pride parades and street rallies. A number of local queer rights activists have been critical of the request, arguing that it could jeopardise their work.
The first pride parade in the North Caucasus, organised by Russian queer activists, may not go ahead. The authorities of several North Caucasian capitals denied permission to official requests to hold such events on 20 March.
