Transgender women in Tbilisi court after fight with neighbours

A fight took place in Tbilisi on 1 May between two transgender women and their neighbours; police arrested four people. One of the neighbors was fined ₾100 ($40) for ‘petty hooliganism’, while the other was released. A hearing for the two transgender women was delayed until 4 May. According to their lawyer Nino Bolkvadze, one of them was injured during the incident.

The incident took place at night on Tskneti Street. One of the transgender women told Netgazeti, that the conflict with neighbours had lasted for three weeks, and started when one of them ended her relationship with one male neighbour. According to her, the man then began to threaten her and urge children to throw stones at their house.

‘This man used to point people to our house, telling them that “men in dresses live here”. I scolded him once, twice, and then finally I called the police. Then the whole neighbourhood came out’, she said.

The man rejects the accusations, claiming that he never had a relationship with the transgender woman, and he was just trying to ‘protect’ children, who according to him the transgender woman was scolding.

‘I scolded them back and then they called the police. The entire neighbourhood was here and honest people were arrested because of them. I don’t understand why they let these women stay here. There are children growing up in families and these children learn about this [transgender people]. These women should be hiding. Children see them when they come out in the streets’, he told journalists.

The two transgender women face charges of petty hooliganism, which is punishable by a fine of ₾100 ($40) or being jailed for up to 15 days. One of them has also been charged with resisting the police, which is finnable by ₾400 ($163) or community service of up to 90 days.