Georgia Joined the Declaration on Eradication of Homophobia and on the Protection of Sexual Minorities

Irakli Managadze, Nona Salaghaia

Georgia has joined the declaration of the European Union on the Protection of Sexual Minorities. The project was initiated by the Czech Republic and it was signed by 27 states. Georgia, the Ukraine and Armenia have joined the declaration as well and they took responsibility to act on every case of homophobic discrimination against sexual minorities.

The document was signed on May 17 and it aims to protect sexual minorities – homosexuals, lesbians and bisexuals from aggression. According to the declaration the EU condemns all kind of violence and homophobe acts that do not respect human dignity and provides a person shall have right to live without persecution, insult and being degrading regardless of his/her sexual orientation. The EU took responsibility to protect sexual minorities by means of the law.

Georgia still is one of the countries that are not very loyal to sexual and religious minorities. We should look for the reasons deeply in our religion and cultural traditions. Although the protection of the rights of minorities is one of most urgent issues in the country, no practical steps have been taken and the country is liberalizing very slowly. As evidence of this slow movement we can recall the event planned by the All Equal All Different in October, 2007 where sexual and religious minorities were supposed to take part. With the effort of the Patriarchate and a part of Georgian society opposed to the event, it failed. The groups of people who protested the initiatives of the minorities not only verbally insulted the minorities but threatened them with physical violence if the event took place.

The open and aggressive protest of the Orthodox Church of Georgia was justified by claiming that the Patriarchate, like all other institutions and public groups, have the right to express their opinion and enjoy freedom of expression. However these people forgot that the minority population of Georgia also has the right to free expression and any person has the right to manage his/her personal sexual life without the interference of other people.

Evidently, Georgian society is not ready yet to accept a group of people who do not share the same orientation as is prescribed for everyone. Everybody knows that there are homosexuals, lesbians and believers of different religious confessions in the country; many of us have contact with them though they do not speak loudly about it and everybody avoids protecting them. Many people prefer being in the position of the ostrich in order to escape an awkward situation.

What Is Homophobia?

Resolution of the European Parliament adopted on January 18, 2006 defines the term homophobia as follows: “Irrational fear and hatred of lesbians, homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals that is based on a prejudged feeling and is equal to racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and sexism.”

The World Health Organization declared May 17 as an international day against homophobia. It had removed homosexuality from the list of the psychic diseases on May 17, 1990. This day has been celebrated for five years. Transphobia was added to that formulation and the US state of Idaho identifies sexual orientation as well. It must be pointed out that lesbians, homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals are considered to be members of one group. Mere information about sexual orientation and gender identification are two issues that  are not differentiated. Transsexual people, as well as all other people, have their sexual orientation. In additional to that we have a new formula “Transphobia” and this year the event is called “International Day against Transphobia and Homophobia.”

In order to find out the current situation in Georgia regarding the problem and what activities were carried out in the country based on the declaration we interviewed Paata Sabelashvili, director of the foundation “Inclusive.”

-EU has adopted the declaration regarding the Day against Homophobia. Georgia has joined the declaration and how do you think: will it have a positive impact in Georgia; or will facts of homophobia not be investigated in the future as well?

-Since Georgia has signed the document of the EU it means our country continues to respect European values. Of course, it is a huge step forward and we greatly appreciate it; however, joining the declaration does not mean that the state takes measures to implement the principles of the declaration in the country or will do so in the near future. Georgia had a similar position on December 18, 2008 at the 60th meeting of the General Assembly of the UN (it was the 60th anniversary after the Universal Declaration on Human Rights). The UN, with France as a chair-country, adopted the document on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identification and called upon over 80 states, where sexual connection between one-gender people is still criminalized, to implement corresponding changes. Georgia was among those 66 states which signed the declaration. Today, after Obama was elected as a president, the USA also has joined the group of these countries (George W. Bush did not sign the document because of his famous homophobic policy). Vatican and Muslim countries lobbied completely against a different declaration which was signed only by 60 states. Similar declarations often remained on the level of principles but as I have already said it is a serious step taken forward in such international forum as the UN General Assembly.

Decriminalization of homosexuality in Georgia happened after the new Criminal Code was adopted. This initiative was one of those responsibilities Georgia has taken after joining the Council of Europe. The new Code was put in force on June 1, 2000. Later Georgia signed the 12th protocol of the Anti-discrimination Article 14 of the European Human Rights Declaration. According to the protocol sexual orientation is mentioned among other bases as a ground on which discrimination is prohibited.

-What is the situation regarding homophobia in Georgia now?

-According to the surveys and public interviews we have carried out homophobia is still deeply rooted in society. Georgia does not have complete anti-discrimination legislation. Our country is among those states whose law does not recognize such important conceptions like the hate-crimes and hate-speech. Governmental officials are badly informed about the necessity of protecting sexual minorities in the country. We have prepared a special report on this issue where we included homophobic statements of three officials – former head of Human Rights Committee at the Parliament of Georgia Elene Tevdoradze, Public Defender of Georgia Sozar Subari and chairperson of the parliament of Georgia Davit Bakradze.

Generally, a culture of low tolerance, sexism and gender chauvinism and little education regarding sex in the society influence the level of homophobia in the country. The sociopolitical crisis in Georgia reflects the situation even more –as a rule different collective phobias, among them homophobia, are particularly reinforced in the society by similar backgrounds. Separate groups and institutions (various radical groups, Orthodox Church of Georgia) publicly make discriminatiory statements. After our organization was founded the Patriarch condemned homosexuality and transsexuality in his Easter Epistles. Vivid examples of homophobia in the society and the media were the reaction to the article published by journalist Irakli Mamaladze in the newspaper “Alia” in July 2007. The journalist published incorrect information and wrote that All Different All Equal of the Council of Europe was planning to organize a Homosexual Parade in Tbilisi. The journalist claimed the government supported the organizers and radical people had radical reaction to it. Some politicians even dared to demand depriving homosexuals of the right to take part in the elections. Official statement of the Patriarchate directly warned the organizers and participants of the so-called “parade” to cancel the event. otherwise it could have negative results. Because of this fact we were able to prepare report where homophobia was mentioned as a serious problem in Georgia. The Council of Europe made a special appeal and for several months the media continued to publish articles on this event.

The homophobic attitude of the media and of governmental structures can be shown by the fact that Giorgi Chanturia, producer general of the Public Broadcasting, was not punished, and was considered justified,  for homophobic statements when he breached the Ethic Code of the Public Broadcasting According to an article published in the newspaper “24 Hours” in reply to the article “Failed Discussion” published in the magazine “Tskheli Shokoladi” Ethic Code of the Public Broadcasting is a normative act. (We would like to remind the readers that Chanturia used words about LGBT people that do not comply with the Ethics Code during a public discussion). We sent a petition to Levan Gakheladze, chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Public Broadcasting, where we requested Giorgi Chanturia to resign from his position. However, we have not received a reply. It is pity that such stark violations are ignored by the governmental structures in this country. We also should consider the fact that lesbians, homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals pay taxes to the state budget like every citizen in the country. So they do not deserve to be laughed at or degraded by the officials who receive the salaries from the taxes we pay. In addition to that, the Orthodox Church of Georgia openly criticizes LGBT people and supports the reinforcement of the homophobia in the country.

-What should the government do to defeat homophobia?

-We have prepared concrete recommendations to the Government of Georgia regarding this issue:

1 Hate-crimes shall be identified and sexual orientation and gender identity shall be included with other bases.

2 Georgian government shall take concrete steps to prove that it is faithful to those principles that are declared on the international level;

3 Public Defender’s Office shall monitor  discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and should publicly declare its positions regarding similar discrimination;

4 Ministry of Education should include LGBT groups in the term “various groups” in the National Conception and shall also apportion corresponding resources to fund the researches and educational activities on LGBT issues.

5 Resolution of the Ministry of Healthcare adopted in 2003, which prohibits homosexuals to be blood-donors, shall be amended.

6 Public Defender’s Office, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Healthcare, Labor and Social Welfare shall work out the legislative base for the transition of transsexual people and to change their IDs.

7 Public Broadcasting shall take urgent measures to prevent, and not to repeat, discriminatory statements about LGBT people.

8 Public Broadcasting shall allocate time and funds to prepare TV programs designed for LGBT people. These programs shall be purchased and aired according to the Ethic Code.

9 Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia shall inform law enforcement officers about the rights of LGBT people and about the standards of the Georgian legislation.

10 The Ministry of Healthcare, Labor and Social Welfare shall correct those faults that are in the Labor Code of Georgia, Anti-discriminative Article 2.3. (Details are indicated in the alternative report to the Secretariat of Social Charter of Europe).

P.s. We hope the problem of homophobia will be resolved in Georgia once and for ever; but it requires the will and support of the society and the government.