Georgia

Recently, Georgia has taken significant steps backward on equal rights for LGBTIQ people. In October 2024, Georgia enacted a new law that prohibits so-called LGBT propaganda, allowing officials to ban Pride events and censor films and books under the premise of advancing family values and protecting minors. The law also bans same-sex marriages and access to gender-affirming health care. This law mirrors a similar law first adopted in Russia in 2013, which has since been expanded and replicated in a number of other post-Soviet countries, as well as a growing number of countries in other parts of the world. In the Parliament of Georgia, there is also an effort currently underway to embed some of these same discriminatory provisions, as well as others that would further undermine the basic rights of LGBTIQ people, into the country’s constitution.

In the past, Georgia had enacted several legal changes to better protect the human rights of LGBTIQ people. In 2014, a comprehensive anti-discrimination law was adopted that includes explicit protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In 2012, sexual orientation and gender identity were recognized as aggravating circumstances in hate crime legislation, and since 2008, an administrative process for legal gender recognition has been in place. 

However, even with these earlier legal protections, LGBTIQ Georgians remained highly vulnerable to violence, discrimination, and harassment by private individuals and law enforcement officers. This has included numerous large-scale attacks against public LGBTIQ events in 2012, 2013, and 2021, while police blocked events in 2017 and 2018. 

The recent attacks by the Georgian government on LGBTIQ people’s rights are occurring in a context of broader democratic backsliding, including direct attacks aimed at harming the reputation of civil society organizations and their ability to function. In June 2024, Georgia adopted a "foreign agents law” that requires organisations receiving over 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as “organizations pursuing the interests of a foreign power.” It also requires civil society groups and independent media to share sensitive internal documents with government officials.

*Outright research indicates that the bodily autonomy of intersex people is not respected and protected in this country.