Monitoring is supported by UNDP. Opinions, observations and analysis expressed in the material belong to Aprili Media.
At the beginning of the election year, “Georgian Dream” first wanted constitutional changes to reflect homophobic reservations and held public debates, and then, since there were no votes to pass them, it adopted a package of anti-constitutional, human rights-restricting bills right before the elections, in September. Taking this into account, during the pre-election period, we often hear statements of hate, containing false narratives, damaging LGBTQIA+ people from politicians, and these messages are spread unanswered in official media.
According to the report, over the years, many political parties have tried to influence the population by using irrational fears in the society , which portray gender and sexuality as being in conflict with Georgian traditions, and the supporters of equality as enemies of traditions.
This combination of words – “LGBT propaganda” is a narrative invented by Russia, which Putin actively used to mobilize voters, and in 2013 he passed a law. In order to consolidate the voters against the foreign “enemy” and in the name of family values and the protection of minors, the Georgian Dream is also trying to make the fight against “LGBT propaganda” one of the main issues of the election campaign, along with the risks of “the global war party dragging Georgia into the war”.
Aprili Media observes political actors in the pre-election (August 26-October 26) and post-election (October 27-November 26) period and studies the narratives spread about LGBTQIA+ and women’s rights, which are used to mobilize votes for elections. In this article, we will tell you what the monitoring conducted from August 26 to September 26 shows.
Monitoring subjects are qualified and unqualified electoral subjects, parties and politicians participating in the 2024 parliamentary elections, as well as the government (central, local, Adjara), the Prime Minister and the President. 9 television channels, 10 online and 2 print media, as well as 16 political parties and coalition official Facebook pages have been selected for research purposes. Monitors monitored the covered materials using pre-developed keywords. A direct way is used to observe the Facebook pages of political parties.
Homophobic Election Narrative of “Georgian Dream”
According to the first interim report, “Georgian Dream” actively uses political homophobia, discriminatory language in pre-election promises. As for the opposition parties, most of them rarely and indirectly refer to the homophobic law adopted by the ruling party.
On September 19, at the party meeting held in Rustavi, Bidzina Ivanishvili said that after obtaining the constitutional majority, they would end once and for all – ” all violent attempts to bend the pseudo-liberal ideology to the people, insult and degrade our values, culture and history!”. Mamuka Mdinaradze said at the party meeting held in Ozurgeti: “What none of the conquerors in Georgia was able to do to destroy the Georgian nation, they can do it this way in just a few generations, and that’s why we have to stand up to it.”
Mdinaradze did not forget to say that his opponents ignore the mentioned issue out of fear of “the people inside and their owners outside”. During the adoption of the law, the statements of the members of “Georgian Dream” and “People’s Power” reveal that the government manipulatively linked the lack of discussion on this topic by the opposition to external actors, specifically to the West.
Shalva Papuashvili went further and directly started claiming that the opposition wants “LGBT propaganda” in schools and kindergartens, and not only that:
“They say that propaganda about LGBT issues should go to minors in schools and kindergartens; They say same-sex marriage should be allowed; They say same-sex couples should be able to adopt children. This is their ideology. “Lelo”, “National Movement”, others, the ideology of all of them is to encourage LGBT propaganda in Georgia”, said Papuashvili .
However, the election strategy of the Georgian Dream was most succinctly summed up by Guram Macharashvili, a member of “People’s Power”, in just one sentence:
“We defend family values, we defend peace, the opposition defends LGBT values and wants war”.
Guram Macharashvili’s statement was a direct attack on queer people, in which he said that a child cannot be entrusted to a person “who cannot decide for themselves whether they will be a woman or a man”. Mikheil Kavelashvili’s manipulative statement is an attempt to influence attitudes related to the European Union – ” The challenge is to protect families from LGBT propaganda – there are only two countries in the European Union where same-sex marriage is not allowed, and this pressure will continue”. It is worth noting that equal marriage is not a prerequisite or a requirement for EU membership, and this is a manipulative narrative.
What Were the Opposition Parties Saying?
As for the position of the opposition parties, according to the research, “Girchi” spoke relatively actively about the homophobic law, although sometimes this response was homophobic and damaging. According to Iago Khvichia, he doesn’t know where this danger was noticed in Georgia, but if the current constitution creates a danger of an excess of gays in Georgian society, this constitution is also adopted by them [the Georgian dream], so they can’t blame anyone, we reached a consensus with someone”. Vakhtang Megrelishvili said that it is unjustified to refuse to adopt a person because of “sexual taste”.
During the reporting period, most of the opposition parties did not state their position regarding the received legislative package at all, and in response to journalists’ questions, they mostly noted that this is another promise of “Georgian Dream” to influence the people. for example
In response to a question about the homophobic law, Tina Bokuchava said that she will not participate in the said discussion, because the authorities are trying to cover up the real problems with false narratives. Zura Japaridze noted that “Georgian Dream” uses fear, as if, if we become part of the West, “something will happen to our children”.
“It is a pre-election story, they are trying to win the hearts of those people who were intimidated by this propaganda and made them believe that if we go to the West and become part of the West, which Georgia has always been, as if something will happen to our children.” It’s a delusion from start to finish, and they use these fears for pre-elections”.
The representatives of the party “Gakharia for Georgia” had a different position. They said they intended to support several bills included in the package related to the protection of children’s rights in kindergartens and schools, “including the restriction of propaganda”. Teona Akubardia somewhat echoed the narrative, saying that “any propaganda against children is completely unacceptable.” However, she also added that “Georgian Dream” does not really care about children.
Attack on the West
The research shows that “People’s Power” and “Georgian Dream” did not shy away from trying to discredit Western politicians, nor did they back down from spreading anti-Western narratives.
“People’s Power” noted that the high political officials of the European Union and the United States no longer hide the real reasons why the Georgian government was accused of democratic backsliding and the European integration process was frozen, including “the ban on LGBT propaganda”. Davit Kartvelishvili, a member of the same party, accused America of persecuting queer people and said that they should not reach out to us. Guram Macharashvili went on a personal attack and called Mikhail Roth an “officially married man” who “leads the opposition with the LGBT flag.” Macharashvili added that “the radical opposition supports the “unification” of Georgia with the LGBT flag, and we want to protect the traditions with the national flag.”
Prime Minister Kobakhidze explained what Europe is for them – “For us, Europe means traditional values, Christian values, and if someone wants to present Europe in a different way, it is categorically unacceptable for us.” Along with talking about these values, he also mentioned that the law only aims to limit “LGBT propaganda, pseudo liberal propaganda”.
Response to the Murder of Kesaria Abramidze
Feedback related to the murder of Kesaria Abramidze was also reflected in the study. A transgender woman was killed one day after the adoption of the homophobic law, so some politicians also talked about the connection between these two stories:
Salome Zurabishvili attended the civil funeral of Kesaria Abramidze and responded to the incident with a post on the social network. The president wrote that she hopes this will at least wake up the public, because hate allows the enemy to manipulate.
Nino Tsilosani limited himself to the condolence post and did not spread the political content. Maka Bochorishvili, a member of “Georgian Dream”, wrote that the criminal has no political taste, and in response to the feedback of the opponents, she said that it is ” condemnation of alleged hatred filled with hatred, condolence saturated with politics” and added – “By pointing fingers at others, you yourself stigmatize and discriminate people.” Bochorishvili’s mentioned statement was broadcasted by TV company Imedi. The Marshall Press publication published the Facebook post of Tsotne Ananidze, a delegate of the Supreme Council of Adjara from “Georgian Dream”, in which he said that the murder of Kesaria most likely did not have homophobic motives and they should not try to look for political motives and incentives.
The representative of “People’s Power”, Zurab Kadagidze, connected the incident with Mikhail Roth’s arrival in Georgia and indirectly started looking for the guilt of the opponents. Regarding the murder of Kesaria Abramidze, Roth wrote that she was killed one day after the adoption of the homophobic law, and Kadagidze said in response: “What an amazing coincidence that this scumbag came, obstructed the law, insulted the whole of Georgia, warned us to immediately recall him on the day of the third reading of the law, they kill that poor thing?! Did you see how happy the collective National Movement was?”
Women’s Rights, Sexism and Discriminatory Language
According to the research, when it comes to sexist perceptions and discriminatory language, during the reporting period there was a discussion around two main cases – the first was the sexist post of Tea Tsulukiani, and the second was the degrading, discriminatory statement of Lasha Bakradze.
Tea Tsulukiani’s post was in response to Ana Dolidze’s statement, which said that “the Georgian dream hates strong women”. Tsulukiani wrote in response:
“You were only an embryo in politics when Bidzina Ivanishvili appointed women candidates and positions and introduced quotas. But after seeing some Tsitlidzes, ungrateful and untalented politician Kordzaias, beautiful Tinikos, loser Salomes (this time I’m talking about MP) and such wonders, neither a person (that is, a man) nor a quota will want to support a woman in politics. That’s right. These look-alikes are blocking the way for girls in politics. I missed the flowers on the coffin: Ana Natsvlishvili… well, screaming does not mean success in politics, otherwise our Tako Charkviani, who is crushed like a rose and still beautiful, would have been successful… Woe to that quota, someone Tsitlidze (maybe I forget the last name) or even a thin and still beautiful Tako, even if she didn’t get a rose, if she thought of something else, she would be admitted to the parliament”.
Tako Charkviani responded to the mentioned statement with a sexist and homophobic statement – “Does Ms. Tea’s orientation need any clarification?” And isn’t it hard? Because I have not yet met in practice that a woman, a representative of my gender, looks into my shirt”. In response, Teona Akubardia drew attention to the lack of female politicians in “Georgian Dream” and recalled Bidzina Ivanishvili’s joke – “Woman, enter the store”.
Lasha Bakradze made a sexist and discriminatory statement on September 3. The representative of the coalition of the National Movement said that the choice is simple, “when you look at the kind of women standing next to us. Today you saw Ms. Tina, Tamar, Sopo. We offer such people today, and not, sorry, those “worn faces” that the representatives of “Georgian Dream” have. Despite the fact that two more members of the party came to the tribune after the mentioned statement, they did not comment on the statement. Later, when this statement was criticized by the people, party members, for example, Gia Japaridze, tried to defend it. Bakradze was criticized by Teona Akubardia and called her statement “an attack based on gender, which weakens the participation of women in politics and poses a threat to democracy”. Members of People’s Power, Levan Machavarian and Mamuka Mdinaradze called the statement immoral and unmanly. Iago Khvichia came up with an initiative – “Let’s forgive Mr. Lasha once, and maybe he should take into account the second time, that being friendly does not mean a loss of adequacy.”
Later, Lasha Bakradze tried to explain what he wanted to say by saying: “On the one hand, I mentioned our women, that there are such bright faces on our side, and on the other hand, I didn’t even think about women at all, I meant that there are uninteresting, mediocre, we can say, faded faces of the Georgian dream. That’s what I meant. nothing more”.
As for issues related to women’s rights, politicians were not very active in this regard. The party – “For Georgia” announced the issue of maternity leave for women and men and the imbalance of pay. Tina Bokuchava spoke about the political and economic empowerment of women and noted that the quota was an important step forward and advocated its re-introduction. She emphasized on the proper work of the shelters for the women victims and also said that this should be a temporary measure and help them to find employment, reintegration into the society and live a full life. In another statement, Bokuchava called femicide a growing problem in Georgia and named “the violent environment created by the government” as a contributing factor.
The second interim report of the Aprili Media survey, covering the entire pre-election period (August 26-October 26), will be published after the elections. Also, the monitors will study the narratives spread about LGBTQIA+ and women’s rights in the post-election period as well.