Georgian parliament approves anti-LGBTQ legislation, echoing measures in Russia

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s parliament on Tuesday approved draft legislation curtailing LGBTQ+ rights, a measure that is similar to laws adopted in neighboring Russia.

The bill, introduced by the ruling party Georgian Dream earlier this year, includes bans on same-sex marriages, adoption by same-sex couples, gender-affirming care, public endorsement of LGBTQ+ relations and people, and depictions of them in the media.

Russian authorities over the last decade also banned public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” as well as gender-affirming care, among other measures. Russia’s Supreme Court effectively outlawed LGBTQ+ activism by labeling what the authorities called the LGBTQ+ “movement” operating in Russia as an extremist organization and banning it.

The new initiative was announced by Georgian Dream on the heels of the country adopting another law critics denounced as borrowed from Moscow’s playbook — the “foreign influence” law. It ignited weeks of protests and was widely criticized as threatening democratic freedoms and jeopardizing Georgia’s chances of joining the European Union.