Tag Archives: LGBT rights

Moscow court halts Uzbek reporters extradition

Four transgender women attacked in Georgian nightclub

TBILISI, FEB. 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — An alleged gang of men attacked four transgender women in a nightclub just off Rustaveli, the main street in Tbilisi, once again triggering fears of a lack of acceptance in Georgia for alternative life- styles.

Transgender women have been targeted for attacks in the past couple of years, with several being killed.

The day before the latest attack a man was sent to prison for 13 years for killing a transgender woman in 2016.

But other social groups have also been attacked, including vegetarians, homosexuals and ethnic minorities.

Georgia wants to, ultimately, join the European Union but these hate crimes are likely to play against it. Georgia is renowned for having a deeply conservative society rooted in the Georgian Orthodox Church.

The Church, an important focal point for ordinary Georgians and their politicians, has campaigned against gay rights and has pushed for the ruling Georgian Dream coalition government to change the government to enshrine marriage between a man and a woman.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 316, published on Feb. 10 2017)

Radicals attack transgender in Georgia

OCT. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Human rights groups called for the Georgian government to do more to fight hate crimes after a transgender woman was badly stabbed in an apparent attempted murder. Georgia has seen a rise in attacks and marches by rightwing radicals over the past few years. Last month a group of nationalists marched through a street in the old town of Tbilisi taunting foreigners.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Georgia’s Orthodox Church

OCT. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – >> I read earlier in the Bulletin that the Pope flew over to Tbilisi but wasn’t warmly received. This surprised me as I thought the Pope was generally greeted by massive grounds wherever he went.

>> You’re right. Georgians gave Pope Francis a luke- warm welcome. Staff at the Vatican had probably been expecting a far more friendly touch down but then Georgia has a complicated relationship with the Catholic Church.

>> So what actually happened in Georgia?

>> Essentially, although the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, greeted Pope Francis, he was made to feel unwelcome. Many Orthodox priests told their congregations to stay away from his Papal mass on the Saturday and a hardcore group of Orthodox believers followed him around shouting various slogans against the Catholic Church.

>> Right, the sound fairly active? Outside the Pope’s visit, is the Orthodox Church influential in Georgia?

>> Yes, very. Around 80% of Georgians identify themselves as Orthodox. The Patriarch, Ilia II, is one of the most powerful men in the country and is often turned to in times of crisis. He has brokered deals between rival political leaders. Presidents and prime ministers are careful to be seen attending church and meeting with the Patriarch. He is also a staunch conservative, holding views that represent those of many in Georgia.

The Georgian Orthodox is anti-gay rights and same sex marriage, for example. There are often Orthodox priests leading anti-gay rights marches.

And the Georgian Orthodox Church an incredibly influential body. Public opinion surveys consistently rank it as the most trusted public body in Georgia.

>> I see. But is the Orthodox Church involved any way in Georgia’s foreign policy?

>> Not officially. Georgia’s constitution states that the Orthodox Church is fully independent of the state. That said it has played a major role on occasion. After Georgia and Russia fought a brief war in 2008 over the disputed region of South Ossetia, it was the Patriarch who was able to reach out to the Russian side and begin to mend relations. He was in Moscow towards the end of 2008 to see the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Alexey II, for the last time. While he was there he also met up with Dmitri Medvedev, then Russia’s president. This was considered a vital first step towards pulling Georgia and Russia together.

>> So, Ilia II is definitely a bit of an all-rounded then. He seems to play a major role in domestic affairs, influencing public opinion, and also happy to deal in high level diplomacy in international affairs.

>> He’s certainly a major factor in modern Georgia. Watch out for his reaction to any issues before or after the parliamentary election in Georgia on Oct. 8.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Georgian president blocks gay rights referendum

AUG. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili blocked a petition calling for a referendum that sought to enshrine an outright ban on gay marriages in Georgia’s Constitution. Supporters of the petition had argued for a referendum on the issue to be held at the same time as a parliamentary election in October.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 292, published on Aug. 12 2016)

Georgian anti-LGBT activists want referendum on blocking gay marriages

TBILISI, JUNE 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s Central Election Committee (CEC) gave preliminary approval for a referendum on enshrining the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman in the Georgian Constitution, setting up a potentially acrimonious clash between liberals and conservatives.

If activists manage to collect the 200,000 signatures needed to trigger a referendum it is likely that the vote would be held on the same day as a parliamentary election — Oct. 8.

It’ll be closely watched by the European Union. Georgia wants to join the European Union and has been lobbying for visa-free access but, among other issues, Brussels has said that Georgia’s attitude towards gay rights undermines its application.

Georgia’s society is broadly conservative and against gay rights, although it does have a vocal LGBT community. In 2013, a crowd attacked a gay rights march in Tbilisi injuring several people. A Georgian Orthodox priest was photographed wielding a stool as a weapon.

The proposed referendum was put forward by several MPs, including Sandro Bregadze, who had been a deputy minister within the Georgian Dream coalition and is known for his staunchly homophobic comments.

He told a press conference after the CEC approval that the referendum question he wants to put forward is: “Do you agree or not the definition of marriage is a union between a man and a woman for the purpose of starting a family?”

Lika Jalagania, lawyer at Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center, later told The Conway Bulletin that there was a strong chance that the group lobbying for the referendum would be able to collect the 200,000 signatures.

“I really think that they will reach this number, bearing in mind the current homophobic attitudes of Georgian society”, she said.

On June 13, outside the US embassy in Tbilisi a group of gay rights campaigners were holding a vigil in support of the victims of a homophobic attack on a nightclub in Orlando two days earlier. At least 49 people died in the attack, one of the worst mass shootings in the US.

A 57-year-old activist who declined to be named said that mainstream Georgians’ attitude towards the LGBT community would not change.

“The Church rules our country and that is not good for us,” she said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Editorial: Gay marriage in Georgia

JUNE 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The issue of gay rights and gay marriage in Georgia has become increasingly heated. Each side loathes the other. There is little dialogue but plenty of insults and the odd clash.

Now a move by anti-gay right activists to try to enshrine marriage in Georgia’s constitution between a man and a woman through a referendum threatens to bring this animosity to a head. And at a dangerous time.

Even at the best of times, Georgia is a tinderbox. If the activists do collect the 200,000 signatures needed to hold a referendum the vote is likely to take place on the same day as a tense parliamentary election – Oct. 8.

Georgia is a conservative society and it is likely that the activists will be able to raise the 200,000 signatures. It was always going to be a long, fractious parliamentary election campaign. The prospect of a referendum on the same day deliberating on gay rights could make it explosive.

The role of the powerful Orthodox Church and various politicians and their rhetoric will be crucial in managing the various moods.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Gay rights activists protest in Georgia against WCF meeting

MAY 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Georgia arrested several gay rights activists ahead of a planned demonstration outside a meeting of the US-based World Congress of Families, highlighting tension in Georgian society between liberal and conservative factions.

The activists accused the World Congress of Families, which campaigns against gay rights and heavily promotes conservative Christian values, of being deliberately provocative by choosing May 15 – 18 as the date for its annual meeting.

Importantly May 17 is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. In Georgia, it is also the anniversary of violent attacks on a pro-gay rights march in Tbilisi in 2013. Around two dozen activists were wounded in the clashes, one of the worst attacks in the former Soviet Union on gay rights activists.

Outside the World Congress of Families meeting activists placed a rainbow-coloured stool, or taburetka.

“The taburetka became a symbol of oppression and daily violence,” Mariam Kvaratskhelia, representative of the LGBT Georgia lobby group, was quoted in DFW as saying.

“LGBT people exist in Georgia and they’re experiencing daily oppression. We’re calling the Georgian Orthodox Church to stop generating hate towards LGBT persons within society.”

In the 2013 attack on gay-rights campaigners, a heavily-bearded Orthodox priest was photographed wielding a stool and using it as a weapon against the activists.

It was an image that has come to represent reactionary forces associated with the Georgian Orthodox Church.

Georgian society is generally regarded as being conservative, an issue that is likely to play a role in October’s parliamentary election. Politicians have already been looking to win support from the large groups which support the Georgian Orthodox Church. This group is generally considered to be anti-gay rights.

Opinion polls have shown that the election is going to be close.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)

Editorial: Gay rights in Armenia and Azerbaijan

MAY 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A report by the lobby group IGLA-Europe makes for discouraging reading. Propping up the league table on gay, lesbian and transgender rights in 49 countries across Europe and its near abroad are Azerbaijan and Armenia, split by Russia.

They scored 5% and 7%. Above them, halfway up the table, was Georgia with 30%. The fine-print said that the report was primarily concerned with the legal framework established in each country to allow gays, lesbians and transgender people the same rights and protections as everybody else.

The IGLA’s assessment, in Armenia and Azerbaijan at least, was that this appears to be near zero.

And this is reflected in news reports of attacks on homosexuals and other minorities in Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Importantly, though, it is not just people with different sexual orienta- tions who are potential targets in these countries. The same group-think extends towards opposition activists, overly pious Muslims and journalists. They are all marginalised. This whole mentality needs changing.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)

Armenia and Azerbaijan ranked as worst for LGBT people

MAY 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia and Azerbaijan are the worst places in Europe and the South Caucasus to be a homosexual, bisexual, lesbian or a transgender person, the IGLA-Europe lobby group said in a report focused on the legal framework that countries have developed for equality issues.

Of the 49 countries ranked in its index, Azerbaijan was ranked bottom with a score of just under 5%, followed by Russia with 6.5% and then Armenia with around 7%. Georgia was the second highest ranked former Soviet state in 30th position with a score of around 30%. Estonia was ranked in 21st position.

Azerbaijan has been cracking down on opposition groups and media over the past year. European officials have said that this political crackdown has also involved a more general crackdown on civil rights — including against the gay and the lesbian communities.

IGLA-Europe agreed.

“Azerbaijan’s LGBTI community continued to face severe challenges in 2015,” it said in its report. “Numer- ous violent attacks were carried out against LGBTI individuals; several murders were reported and investigated throughout the year.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)