Expert discusses anti-LGBTQ law in Georgia: Putin and other authoritarian leaders' common vision

“Anti-LGBT propaganda” law

Commenting on Georgia’s new “Family Values and Protection of Minors” bill for “Interpressnews,” constitutional law expert Vakhushti Menabde emphasizes a critical point. He notes that even the ruling party “Georgian Dream” acknowledges that this initiative contradicts the current constitutional standard. According to Menabde, the ruling team is offering a vision identical to Putin’s and other authoritarian leaders.

Vakhushti Menabde has three questions regarding the “Georgian Dream’s” initiative:

• Does it align with existing human rights constitutional standards?
• What is the purpose of this initiative?
• What motivates the push to adopt this law?

“The answer to the first question is straightforward: “Georgian Dream” itself admitted that the initiative contradicts the current human rights constitutional standard when they talked about proposing amendments to the constitution. “Dream” realizes that the contradiction with the constitution is so obvious that changing the constitution is necessary to implement this idea.

Regarding the second question, “Georgian Dream” aimed to kill several birds with one stone. On one hand, before the elections [parliamentary elections in Georgia will take place in October 2024 — JAMnews], the right-conservative profile has become even more noticeable. Thus, the party wants to exhaust the electoral resources available in this plan.

On the other hand, this initiative deepens polarization – it manipulates pseudo-traditional values and tries to turn them into a topic for pre-election debates, forcing other parties to take a specific stance on this issue.

At the same time, taking the discussion to the constitutional level also means that “Georgian Dream” is testing the waters – with this move, it offers a societal structure vision for Georgia identical to the authoritarian vision of Putin and other undemocratic leaders.

• “Talking about LGBT propaganda in Georgia is as absurd as the idea of dragging us into war.” Comment
• Anti-LGBT law in Georgia: the ruling party against “pseudo-liberal propaganda”
• The history of Georgia’s LGBT+ community’s struggle for equal rights and non-discrimination

The Georgian Dream sees the many problems facing the citizens of Georgia. It also understands that it can offer nothing to its voters to solve these issues. The management team does not know how to address the social, economic, foreign policy, and other problems it faces, so the only thing it can do is create a problem to talk about.

But, if the Georgian Dream truly cares about the Georgian family, it should focus on strengthening their financial situation. It should explain how to bring back thousands of parents with their children to Georgia, how to prevent children from going hungry at home and school. Instead, it offers a discussion on made-up issues that concern no one and can bring nothing but division to society.”