Trans Rights

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Kesaria Abramidze. Image: Erti ambavi merikostan/Facebook.

Georgia

Podcast | Kesaria Abramidze’s murder and transphobia in Georgia

by OC Media

•2 min read

The high-profile murder of Kesaria Abramidze, a prominent Georgian trans model and media personality, has sent shockwaves through Georgia’s queer community, with many accusing the government of enabling her murder through their transphobic and homophobic rhetoric and their ‘LGBT propaganda’ law. Abramidze’s suspected murder, her former partner, was charged with committing a hate crime based on gender, and not one based on Abramidze’s gender identity. This week, we spoke to

Left photo: Mindia Gabadze/Publika; right photo via Tabula.

Crime

Georgian President attends funeral of murdered trans woman Kesaria Abramidze

by Shota Kincha

•1 min read

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has attended the funeral of Kesaria Abramidze, a trans media personality and model who was murdered last week. Abramidze was laid to rest at a ceremony in Tbilisi on Sunday. She was also commemorated in Antwerp, a Belgian city that is home to a number of queer refugees and asylum seekers from Georgia. The Georgian Orthodox Church refused to provide burial services for Abramidze due to her transgender identity. Abramidze’s former partner, 26-year-old

Crime

Heartbreak in Georgia after murder of prominent trans woman

by Shota Kincha

•3 min read

The high-profile murder of trans media personality and model Kesaria Abramidze has led to an outpouring of grief and anger in Georgia, with many linking her murder to the ruling party’s transphobic rhetoric and legislation. Hours after the initial news broke on Wednesday evening, the Interior Ministry confirmed 37-year-old Abramidze was killed after receiving multiple knife wounds following an altercation in her home in Didi Dighomi. They also confirmed that they had detained a primary susp

Azerbaijan

No job, no flat: trans people in the margins in Azerbaijan

by Ali Malikov

•5 min read

Discrimination against trans people in Azerbaijan has very direct economic impacts, with many struggling to find jobs or flats, and ending up at risk through black market work and precarious housing. Durdana, 29, was born and raised in Baku. She left home seven years ago, after coming out as trans. In the years since, she has been arrested, rejected from housing and employment opportunities for being trans, and, in the past two years, failed to find any work after the one stable employer sh

Irakli Kobakhidze speaking at CPAC. Screengrab from Center for Fundamental Rights / Youtube.

Georgia

Georgian PM rails against ‘liberal’ West at far-right Budapest conference

by Shota Kincha

•3 min read

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and claimed that Western-influenced liberals seek to undermine Georgian national identity in a keynote speech at an ultra-conservative conference in Budapest. On 25 April, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze was among the international speakers at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Hungary. The Conservative Political Action Conference is an American conservative organisatio

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani authorities remain silent over murder of trans woman

by Aytan Farhadova

•2 min read

Azerbaijani authorities have remained silent over the apparent murder of a transgender woman near Baku, failing to confirm if an investigation into her death was underway. According to local queer rights activist Alex Shah, the woman, identified only as ‘Aytan’, was found late on 12 March in Khojasan, on the outskirts of Baku. A photo shared among the local transgender women’s community seen by OC Media showed her body beaten lying on the side of the road. ‘The photograph of Aytan’s body

Police detaining Ali Malikov, one of the activists. Screengrab from MeydanTV

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani activists reportedly detained after protesting detention of transgender women

by Ismi Aghayev

•1 min read

Four Azerbaijani activists were reportedly administratively charged on 24 May after taking part in a protest against the arrest of two transgender women, with two sentenced to 15 days of detention while two others received fines. On the evening of 22 May, footage of a confrontation between three transgender people and the police in Baku’s Khatai district was shared on social media. In the footage, a transgender woman is seen fighting with police and then being detained. A group of activist