Georgia Signs Into Law Bill Seen by EU as Anti-LGBTQ

Georgia on Thursday signed into law measures that will curb LGBTQ rights, despite warnings from the EU that they undermine Tbilisi's membership ambitions.

The legislation has been compared to repressive Russian laws and are the latest anti-liberal measures from the ruling Georgian Dream party ahead of crucial parliamentary elections later this month.

The speaker of Georgia's parliament said he had signed the controversial "family values" bill into law after pro-Western President Salome Zurabishvili -- at loggerheads with the government -- refused to do so.

"In conformity with the constitution, I signed today the law 'on family values and the protection of minors', which Salome Zurabishvili didn't sign," speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on Facebook.

The measures are similar to Moscow's "gay propaganda" law, further fuelling accusations that Tbilisi has moved closer to Moscow amid its invasion of Ukraine.

The law will restrict "in educational institutions and TV broadcasts, the propaganda of same-sex relationships and incest."

Rights groups have slammed such language as putting homosexual relations on a par with "incest."

It also bans gender transition, adoption by gay and transgender people, and nullifies same-sex marriages performed abroad.

- Dangerous environment -

Georgian Dream pushed the bill through parliament last month in a vote boycotted by the opposition and which reignited tensions ahead of October 26 parliamentary elections.

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“EU leaders don't understand the intentions of the current Georgian authorities,” the EU ambassador to Georgia said.

The party, controlled by secretive billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, is seeking to win a super-majority that would allow it to constitutionally ban pro-Western opposition parties.

Papuashvili rejected criticism that the law runs against European values.

The latest measures are "based on common sense, historical experience and centuries-old Christian, Georgian, and European values, rather than on changeable ideas and ideologies," he said, adding that the "law protects the rights of all citizens".

But rights groups and Western countries have said that it is discriminatory and creates a dangerous environment for LGBTQ people.

Last month, a well-known Georgian transgender woman was stabbed to death in her apartment, an attack that came a day after the parliament voted to approve the bill.

- 'Stigmatisation and discrimination' -

Tbilisi has increasingly clashed with Brussels in recent years, even as the EU granted the country official "candidate status."

The Black Sea nation passed an anti-NGO "foreign influence law" earlier this year, triggering weeks of mass anti-government protests and Western condemnation. 

Brussels has repeatedly warned that with such measures Georgia is drifting away from its stated ambition of joining the EU.

Last month, it said the proposed bill on LGBTQ rights "undermines fundamental rights of Georgians and risks further stigmatisation and discrimination of part of the population."

It warned that the law would have "important repercussions" for Tbilisi's European integration path and "place further strain on EU-Georgia relations."

The United States has also pushed back against Tbilisi.

In September, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced visa restrictions on 60 Georgians, including senior government figures, who he said were "responsible for, or complicit in, undermining democracy in Georgia."

"We remain concerned about human rights abuses and anti-democratic actions in Georgia, and we will continue to consider additional actions in response," he said in a statement. 

Georgia's Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, has threatened that the longtime West-leaning country may "revise" its ties with the US should Washington slap more sanctions on Georgian officials.

Having initially pursued a liberal pro-Western policy agenda when it came to power in 2012, Georgian Dream has over the last two years intensified its anti-West and anti-liberal positions, with critics accusing it of moving closer to the Kremlin's orbit.