Author: Beka Maisuradze
There is a very good TV series — The Leftovers. The plot of the series begins on October 14, the exact day when two percent of the Earth’s population disappears. This is what the hate and censorship law adopted by the Georgian Dream reminds me of, which was propagandistically called “On Family Values and the Protection of Minors”. With this document, the state has put the existence of one part of the people under even greater pressure — queer people, who already have to fight daily not only to save themselves, but also for their dignity and voice, Georgian Dream has questioned the legitimacy of existence at all.
Although this hateful law primarily targets queer people, it ultimately affects everyone . If you read any law at least once, you will see definitions of terms everywhere, and in this case, the Georgian Dream party decided to explain what woman, man, and biological sex mean. In addition, the party included “incest” in the same law, which may leave part of the public with the perception that there is some connection between queerness and incest or queerness and pedophilia. This further reinforces homophobia and stereotypes towards queer people.
In addition, the adoption and implementation of this law in itself poses a great threat to all spheres of art. If it exists, your favorite films, TV series, plays, or books will be censored. And all this will be done in the name of non-existent “LGBT propaganda.”
According to the hate speech law, the dissemination of information that the legislator perceives as “popularization” of the LGBTQ+ community will be prohibited. Although it is unclear what “popularization” is, based on the definition in the document, censors may consider unacceptable series such as Modern Family (Cameron Tucker as heterosexual!), Friends (what did Carol think when she broke up with Ross?! Didn’t “Dream” get revenge or what?!), Grey’s Anatomy, Game of Thrones, and many others.
Imagine if we could only see the films of one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema, Pedro Almodovar (and not only him), in a censored form, perhaps… and in general, whether we will tell anything about this director or not is also a question.
Aprili Media, on the one hand, tells you about the dangers that queers and every citizen face as a result of the hate law, and on the other hand, about the expected censorship. In this article, theater and film actors Nata Murvanidze, Eka Demetradze, and Ilo Beroshvili will talk about the damage that the law could cause to the queer community and art.
Nata Murvanidze states that it is a disaster to put the LGBTQ+ community under one umbrella with incest and pedophilia.
“What will this lead to and what will happen in a few months or a year, how will this affect people, how will it change their minds… I don’t know, I want to jump out of my skin. This means ignorance, this means inhumanity. This is a disaster when you put this with these two, under the umbrella of propaganda. That’s what propaganda is to me, putting these three under this umbrella. […] Propaganda is their acceptance of this law. That’s what propaganda is, putting these three things under one umbrella, and poor are the people who will be the victims of this propaganda.”
Murvanidze says that the government, which also receives its salary from queer people’s taxes, is trying to further oppress already oppressed people with this absurd law. In addition, she believes that this law prohibits her, as an ordinary citizen, from living in a perfect society.
“We listen to different music, watch different movies, dress differently, marry different people, like different things — someone likes agronomy, someone likes theater, and someone likes dentistry — we are interested in different things, and that is why we are human, regardless of gender. It is simply a desire, not because I am a woman. I like men, that’s all, not because I have a gender. Someone doesn’t like it, someone lives alone, has neither a woman nor a man, and what can we do, drive them away, impose something on them, because they don’t reproduce?!”
According to the actor, the law of hatred contradicts all the achievements of the developed world and tries to return society to where it has long been trying to escape from – to the dark past.
“Some things are moving forward, people have given up on some things, some fears, people have developed, seen more, read more, thought more, and suddenly you fall away from this progress and return to the situation where they are afraid of foreigners, this is the situation they have put the country in.”
While the government explains the need for the law by the threat of non-existent propaganda, the actor considers the law adopted on December 2 to be the real propaganda and says that it is misinformation and hate propaganda. According to her, the problem is watering down hatred and the approach as if you are protecting the majority, which is already strong, from the minority. As for the argument of protecting children, the actor emphasizes that this is precisely why there is an age limit — 18+.
“18+ is a great experience because if a parent doesn’t want it, they won’t let their child see that movie. This is a common story and children are protected by it. Remove violence, remove rape, remove war, theft, etc. You forbid me love, some form of love, but not violence, contempt, hatred — right?!”
Actor and TV presenter Ilo Beroshvili also calls this law morally and humanly unjustifiable.
“If we want to have a healthy society, we cannot have such taboo topics and be afraid that there won’t be a gay scene somewhere in a book. All citizens of Georgia should have the same rights, and therefore, how can any law that oppresses and creates discomfort for a certain group be applicable?!”
Ilo Beroshvili says that in Georgia, where the problem of education is already very acute and requires many reforms, such laws are dangerous primarily for adolescents, especially when they practically do not teach anything about sexual education or reproductive health in schools.
According to him, there was a period in the world when people thought that AIDS was only transmitted through touch and they shunned those infected, and also enslaved people because of their skin color, etc.
“To this day, there are many phobias among people, which are primarily the government’s job to combat. I understand that there are people who are experiencing things during this globalization, due to propaganda or not. When an ordinary representative of society is worried about this, it’s their job to deal with it, but who should do all this? The government, NGOs, etc. The entire country should be directed towards ensuring that as many people as possible understand a lot about a specific issue, so that when a conclusion is reached in society, it is thorough and based on education.”
The actor and TV presenter believes that the Georgian Dream party does not believe in the narrative they have developed, and that this is more of an attempt to score points with the people, as if they are upholding “traditions” because they have studied the mood of the population well and know “what buttons to push.”
“I think it’s more a matter of political narrative in terms of creating public opinion. In authoritarian countries, that’s generally the case, and since we’re shaping up to be an authoritarian country, the laws are also appropriate.”
According to the actress Eka Demetradze, the adoption of such a law in a modern and developed society should pose a major problem for any citizen.
“In a world where there is already so little love left and where the only way for humanity to survive is love, how can you divide and differentiate something, saying that this kind of love is possible and that kind of love is not possible. Love is love and it doesn’t matter.”
According to Eka Demetradze, in a country where children are starving, have no access to education and healthcare, and a large number of them are growing up alone because their parents have emigrated, the adoption of the hate law is yet another farce with which the government is trying to polarize society.
“When children in Georgia have such basic problems, instead of strengthening the dialogue around this topic, trying to unite and learn to connect with each other, stand by each other, love and accept each other, we adopt a law that, on the contrary, further tears down society, creating a very large gap. This is very dangerous for everyone.”
As for art, according to the actor, if the focus is only on the love between a woman and a man, this directly means the oppression and censorship of queers.
“I’m not saying that absolutely every play or every film should be about queer themes — of course not. It’s just that if I have to be silent about a certain direction of love and only talk about love between a man and a woman, isn’t that unthinkable?! If I only talk about that, it directly means that I’m suppressing all other people’s love.”
Vakho Kareli / Aprili Media