TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s parliament on Tuesday approved a bill that would restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ people, a measure similar to laws passed in neighboring Russia.
The bill, introduced earlier this year by the ruling Georgian Dream party, includes a ban on same-sex marriage, same-sex adoption, gender-affirming care, public support for LGBTQ+ relationships and individuals, and the way LGBTQ+ people are portrayed in the media.
Russian authorities have also banned the public endorsement of “non-traditional sexual relations” and gender-affirming care over the past decade, among other measures. Russia’s Supreme Court effectively banned LGBTQ+ activism by labeling what authorities called the LGBTQ+ “movement” operating in Russia an extremist organization and banning it.
The new initiative was announced by Georgian Dream shortly after the country passed another law that critics had condemned as borrowed from Moscow’s playbook: the “foreign influence” law. It sparked weeks of protests and was widely criticized as threatening democratic freedoms and jeopardizing Georgia’s chances of joining the European Union.