Georgia: MEP meets with organisers of attacked LGBT rally

Earlier this week the European Parliament’s delegation to Georgia travelled to the capital Tbilisi, where an angry mob had violently attacked LGBT activists on the International Day Against Homophobia last month.

Ulrike Lunacek with Georgian LGBT activists

MEP Ulrike Lunacek met Irakli Vacharadze from LGBT organisation Identoba, and Nino Kharchilava from the Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group. They shared details of the events on 17 May, and explained that an apparently well-funded campaign before the day had seen the Georgian Orthodox Church distributing leaflets on doorsteps claiming ‘No to gay parade’ and ‘Your children are under threat!”

Such levels of violence against LGBT people were never seen before in Georgia, which they said was a rather tolerant country generally, despite these ‘scary attacks’. Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili had expressed support for the LGBT rights rally two days earlier.

Georgia is currently studying a possible anti-discrimination legislation, which would cover sexual orientation. The European Parliament will keep monitoring the situation closely.