Tag Archives: LGBT rights

Senior Georgian judge calls homosexuals ‘flawed’

APRIL 8 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Nino Todua, a senior Georgian judge, told a parliamentary hearing on her promotion to the country’s Supreme Court that homosexuality is a moral flaw.

Her comments may be abhorrent to Western liberals, but for many Georgians Ms Todua was just reflecting their own strongly held views.

A survey by the largest data collection organisation in the country, CRRC, said that 87% of Georgia’s population believes homosexuality can never be justified.

“I feel sorry for them because of such a deviation. Every person has a flaw; I have mine and they have their flaws and that is their flaw,” Ms Todua was reported as saying when asked about homosexuals.

“There are no flawless persons. The question was why I think that it is a flaw – because cultural norms deem it to be such; it’s not just my personal opinion, the majority of the world’s population think that it’s against cultural norms.”

The homosexuality debate is important, politically, in Georgia. While anti-homosexual sentiment reflects popular opinion, it runs counter to the views of the European Union, a group that Georgia aspires to join.

And gay rights campaigners were quick to criticise Ms Todua.

Eka Chitanava, director of the local NGO Tolerance and Democracy Initiative, said that as a person in the public limelight, Ms Todua should keep her personal opinions private.

“Her beliefs will directly impact her decisions. It was a mistake from the president to nominate her for that position,” she said.

Still, on the streets of Tbilisi, it was clear that most people generally supported her position.

Shalva, a 54 year old bus driver, said: “I don’t care what people do in their bedroom, but they shouldn’t shove their life-styles in my face. Good for her for speaking up for the Georgian people. We need someone to protect our values.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)

Georgia PM wants constitution to block gay marriages

MARCH 8 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili said he wanted to write into the national constitution that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, a thinly disguised attempt to woo conservative voters ahead of a parliamentary election in October.

Georgian society is broadly conservative and anti-gay rallies have been strongly supported over the last few years. Gay rights rallies have been attacked.

Mr Kvirikashvili’s Georgian Dream coalition is facing a tough battle to win another term in office.

It has tried to canvass votes from Georgia’s conservative base by looking for support from the influential Georgian Orthodox Church. The Church is anti-gay rights.

“We have a pending initiative that would guarantee the protection of the sacred institution of marriage, via the constitution,” media quoted Mr Kvirikashvili as saying.

This would mean changing the constitution to ensure that marriage is only possible between a man and a woman.

He appeared to be responding to an initiative by Georgian civil rights lawyer Giorgi Tatishvili who has been lobbying for same-sex marriage.

Importantly for Georgia, the EU has highlighted its conservative views over gas rights and other civil issues as a potential stumbling block for its integration into the EU.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)

Georgian activist challenges gay marriage law

FEB. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Giorgi Tatishvili, a Georgian gay rights activist, has filed a lawsuit challenging a law in Georgia which states that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, the Eurasianet website reported. Georgia is a staunchly conservative country and the Orthodox Church plays a major role in society. Mr Tatishvili’s lawsuit provides a potential litmus test for Georgian society over whether it wants to relax its strong traditional viewpoints.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 267, published on Feb. 12 2016)

Georgia’s court acquits 4 of anti-gay attack

OCT. 23 2015, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Tbilisi acquitted four men of organising a violent attack on a gay rights march in 2013 that injured 28 people, pitting Georgia’s pro-rights lobby against a strong traditionalist group.

The four men, including one priest who was photographed carrying a wooden stool at the 2013 march apparently as a weapon, were accused of being the ringleaders behind the homophobic attack in central Tbilisi.

Human rights groups have accused Georgia of homophobia in the past but traditional values hold sway – the Church is still very powerful and has spoken out strongly against gay rights, – and the court’s verdict will have resonated with many people.

One user on the kavpolit.com website said: “Gay parades are not for the Caucasus. Well done to the priests and the judges. Let them go to Western Europe.”

In 2014, a poll in Georgia found that only 24% of people thought that protecting gay rights was important.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Homophobia spreads in Kazakhstan

JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a report entitled “‘That’s When I Realized I Was Nobody’: A Climate of Fear for LGBT People in Kazakhstan”, Human Rights Watch said that homophobia in Kazakhstan was rife. Almaty is bidding to host the Winter Olympics in 2022. The HRW report was released on the eve of the IOC decision on who to award the Games to.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Georgia PM says no to gay marriages

JUNE 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — In the wake of the decision by the US Supreme Court last week to legalise same sex marriages, Georgian PM Iralkli Garbashvili promised a constitutional ban on homosexual marriages in Georgia.

His decision plays well to Georgia’s conservative society and highlights the divide between the country and the far more liberal West, whose groups Georgia aspires to join.

“As a prime minister and a citizen, I will do everything to include a clause in the constitution that defines marriage and the family as the union of a man and a woman,” Mr Garibashvili said in an interview with a conservative newspaper Asaval-Dasavali.

It is not the first time he has suggested changing the constitution to include the definition of marriage. Last time was in 2014, when parliament discussed an anti-discrimination bill required by the EU for further integration. The Georgian Orthodox Church heavily criticised the bill in 2014 as it forbade discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

According to the Caucasus Research Resource Centre opinion polls, the majority of Georgians support EU and NATO membership, and the US is seen as Georgia’s main ally but 88% of Georgians also said that homosexuality can never be justified.

These views are easy to find on the streets of Tbilisi.

“Sure, the US is a friend to our politicians. But gay marriages just don’t look pretty, do they? Here, in Georgia, we don’t like such kind of people,” said Giorgi, a hairdresser.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Kyrgyz anti-gay law proceeds

JUNE 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – MPs in Kyrgyzstan voted overwhelmingly to pass the second reading of a controversial law that will ban so-called gay propaganda. To become law, the bill needs to pass a third reading and then be signed by President Almazbek Atambayev. Russia passed a similar law in 2013.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Kazakhstan’s Court blocks anti-gay laws

MAY 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Court blocked a bill that would have banned so-called gay propaganda, only a few days after Olympic athletes said it contradicted the spirit of the Olympic Games.

In their letter to the International Olympic Committee, the athletes criticised he law, similar to one brought in by Russia in 2013, and asked the Games’ governing body to pressure Kazakhstan into reconsidering the law.

The strategy now appears to have worked.

As ever, timing is everything. Kazakhstan is competing with Beijing to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. A decision is due in July and Kazakhstan would have been very keen to avoid any negative publicity surrounding its bid in the run-up to that announcement.

According to media reports, the Constitutional Council rejected the bill because if considered it vague and legally incorrect.

That, though, may not be the end of it. The promoter of the bill, MP Aldan Smayyl, said amendments to the current draft will be made and the bill will be submitted to the Parliament again soon.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

EU criticises Kyrgyzstan on gay rights

MAY 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in Brussels focused on human rights, the EU criticised new legislation passing through Kyrgyzstan’s parliament that outlaws promoting gay relationships.

The legislation is similar to laws brought in by Russia two years ago. Analysts have said Bishkek may have been motivated to introduce the rules by a desire to cosy up to the Kremlin.

The criticism of gay rights in Kyrgyzstan came the day after anti-gay rights protesters in Bishkek attacked a pro-gay rights meeting being held in the garden of an upmarket Bishkek hotel.

Over the past few years, the West has watched as Kyrgyzstan, once its poster-boy in Central Asia, has moved increasingly towards Russia. This month it also joined the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union.

As well as criticising Kyrgyzstan over its gay rights record, EU officials also praised the country for trying to clamp down on torture in prison and improving women’s rights.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)

Athletes challenge Kazakh gay laws

MAY 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a potentially damaging hit to Kazakhstan’s hopes of hosting the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, 27 current or former Olympic athletes wrote to the International Olympic Committee to ask it to pressure the Kazakh government into ditching a new law that bans so-called gay propaganda.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)