(Tbilisi Pride)
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. [Read more…]
Anna Zhamakochyan is a sociologist and social critic, and co-founder of the Socioscope NGO, based in Yerevan, Armenia.
In a last-ditch attempt to regain support, Armenia’s corrupt former ruling class have joined with an odious crew of far-right and homophobic forces, attempting to turn society against the revolution. Despite the threat, Pashinyan still has a unique opportunity to build a new Armenia based on solidarity and equality. [Read more…]
‘I’m proud that I have come so far being who I am and didn’t give in’, Drago says. (Tamuna Chkareuli / OC Media)
Despite widespread homophobic attitudes throughout the Caucasus, there are some queer people who find acceptance for who they are — from their co-workers, their friends, and their families. Below are the stories of three queer people, from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. [Read more…]
International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia on 17 May 2017 in Tbilisi (Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)
An advertising company that owns public ad spaces in central Tbilisi has refused to display anti-homophobia messages despite signing a contract with Georgian queer rights group the Equality Movement to do so, according to the group. [Read more…]
(Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
A transgender human rights activist was asked to leave Armenia’s parliament, the National Assembly, after giving an impassioned speech to MP’s calling for more protection for transgender people in the country. [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…]
International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia on 17 May 2017 (Mari Nikuradze /OC Media)
Queer people in Georgia are ‘completely defenceless’ against domestic violence, a recent study conducted by Georgian rights group the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Centre (EMC) has found. The study said this frequently results in victims being forced to leave their homes and impacts their education and careers, contributing to homelessness. [Read more…]
Guram Kashia against the backdrop of anti-queer protesters (Background photo: Giorgi Gogua /Liberali. Front photo: Reuters)
Dato Parulava is a staff writer at OC Media and Liberali.
In the face of abuse and threats over wearing a rainbow armband at a match, Georgia’s football captain, Guram Kashia, has received an unprecedented outpouring of support. Regardless of how much this support means for the queer community, we need to ask whether it is really for them, given that Kashia’s most prominent supporters have avoided mentioning queer people entirely. [Read more…]
Guram Kashia (lelo.ge)
The captain of Georgia’s National Football team, Guram Kashia, has met both backlash and support online and in the media after UEFA announced they were awarding him with their first #EqualGame award for his ‘courageous public stand for equality’. While some supported Kashia’s right to freedom of speech, or his support for queer rights, far-right groups vowed a rally outside Georgia’s match against Latvia in September. [Read more…]
(/UEFA)
UEFA has granted the captain of Georgia’s national football team, Guram Kashia, its inaugural #EqualGame award for his ‘courageous public stand for equality’. Last year, Kashia wore a rainbow armband during a game for Dutch team SBV Vitesse, and despite facing heavy backlash in Georgia, made further statements in support of equality.
