TBILISI, Georgia (LifeSiteNews) — The prime minister of the nation of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, has signed into law a pro-family bill that restricts LGBT propaganda after the country’s pro-European Union president decided to not approve it.
As previously reported by LifeSite, “On Family Values and Protection of Minors” was voted on by the Georgian parliament 84-0 last month. The ruling Georgian Dream party provided the necessary votes for its passage. The opposition party boycotted the proceedings. At present, the chamber has a total of 150 members.
Among other things, the legislation allows for the banning of public displays of so-called “pride” events, such as annual marches, as well as the legal censuring of transgender and other deviant sexual behaviors in films and books. The country’s civil code already defined marriage as being between one man and one woman.
Shalva Papuashvili, the speaker of Georgia’s parliament, said on social media that the bill does “not reflect current, temporary, changing ideas and ideologies, but is based on common sense, historical experience and centuries-old Christian, Georgian and European values.”
The bill’s passage is a pivotal moment for Georgia, which will hold elections later this month on October 26. The country’s current president, Salome Zourabichvili, has increasingly signaled her desire to grow closer to the pro-LGBT European Union, which had given her nation candidate status last year but immediately put that on hold this June after its parliament approved a common sense “foreign influence” law that requires non-governmental organizations and media groups receiving more than 20 percent of their funding from outside parties to register with the government.
Western media outlets and officials criticized that move as a sign of pro-Russian sympathies. Thousands of protesters flooded the streets in response, prompting geopolitical analysts to wonder whether the U.S. was attempting to run a Color Revolution in the country, which it first did in 2003. USAID administrator Samantha Powers had attacked the bill in 2023.
When Georgia passed the “On Family Values And Protection Of Minors” bill last month, top European Union diplomat Josep Borrell expressed frustration in an X post, claiming that it is “further derailing the country from its EU path.”
Speaker Papuashvili previously said that any sort of collaboration between Georgia and the EU should not be one where they “blindly” adhere to instructions, but a “two-way path” of “mutual learning, mutual respect, mutual acceptance.”
Prime Minister Kobakhidze met with U.S. Ambassador Robin Dunnigan recently after the U.S. placed sanctions on more than 60 Georgians, including two government officials who the U.S. said had “undermined” democracy. A statement released by his office said Kobakhidze warned Dunnigan that “if one more such step is taken, this might lead to a revision of Georgia’s stance on U.S.-Georgian relations.”
As a sign of just how partisan the rancor has become in the country, Radio Free Europe has reported that Zourabishvili characterized the October elections as a choice between “being Russia’s slave or cooperation with Europe.”
Georgia borders Russia to the south and Turkey and Armenia to the north in the history-rich Caucasus region. Its roughly 3.7 million population is approximately 90 percent Orthodox Christian and 10 percent Muslim.