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# Georgian Nightmare: Georgia’s ruling party passes law curbing LGBTQ+ rights, banning gender transitions and outlawing Pride marches
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/georgian-nightmare-georgias-ruling-party-passes-law-curbing-lgbtq-rights-banning-gender-transitions-and-outlawing-pride-marches/
- Published: 2024-10-04T12:12:22.000Z
- Updated: 2024-10-04T12:12:22.000Z
- Description: Shalva Papuashvili, a Georgian parliamentary speaker, has signed into law a “family values” bill curbing LGBTQ+ rights, just weeks before a high-stakes parliamentary election. Lawmakers from the ruling Georgian Dream party, which says the law is necessary to protect Georgia’s Orthodox Christian chur
- Author: Graham Robson
- Tags: Georgia, LGBT, LGBTQ, Russia

**Shalva Papuashvili**, a Georgian parliamentary speaker, has signed into law a “family values” bill curbing LGBTQ+ rights, just weeks before a high-stakes parliamentary election.

Lawmakers from the ruling **Georgian Dream** party, which says the law is necessary to protect Georgia’s **Orthodox Christian** church from outsiders, approved the bill in September, which bans gender transitions and could outlaw Pride marches and displays of the LGBTQ+ rainbow flag.

While President **Salome Zourabichvili**, a critic of the ruling party, refused to sign the bill into law, Georgian Dream and its allies in parliament had enough seats to overcome her opposition.

Georgian LGBTQ+ activists say that the law is an attempt by Georgian Dream to boost support among conservative voters ahead of the **October 26** election, in which the party is seeking an unprecedented fourth term in power.

Some Western countries have criticised the bill, casting it as part of what they say is a turn towards authoritarianism and alignment with Russia in country that had mainly leaned towards the West since the breakup of the Soviet Union.