Georgia – the LGBT angles?
Monday, August 11th, 2008I’ve noticed that the LGBT blogs I read have not had much to say on the Georgia-Russia conflict. I’ve been doing some research on Georgia to find out how LGBT issues relate to the young democracy. Here are a couple of items I turned up.
Georgia was the first country in South Caucasus to decriminalize homosexuality when it joined Council of Europe. The age of consent is set at 16 years for both hetero- and homosexuals. Legislation does not contain discriminatory clauses, yet insufficient anti-discrimination legislation often creates gaps. Georgia also has the first LGBT organization in the region and is known as most open-minded country compared to other two in the region. Georgia has at least one LGBT-rights organization, the Inclusive Foundation.
However, Georgia, as a post communist, orthodox and very traditional society, is still not very open towards gays and lesbians. In the large urban societies homosexuality is better accepted than in the rural areas. Regardless, social prejudices are still strong. In 2002, a member of the government committed suicide after being outed in a newspaper. The country explicitly bans adoption by LGBT people, and according to Georgia’s Me magazine (the first LGBT magazine in the country), the latest elections have been marked by a rising religious tone and xenophobia.
The most thorough report I can find is from IGLA-Europe/COC and is titled “Forced Out” [pdf link].
The interesting thing to note, I think, is that Georgia–like some other Eastern European nations–wanted to join NATO and the European Union. Thus far, Georgia has been stalled from full membership. It’s possible that the discrepancy between Georgian attitudes and European notions of equality played a role in the delay for Georgia. Meanwhile, Russia is most decidedly not a role model nation when it comes to LGBT equality.
I’m concerned about how the Georgia-Russia conflict will play out for Eastern European LGBT people. Will other former soviet nations redouble their efforts to become more “European” – or will they react to the war as a reason to move very cautiously in human rights? Will Orthodox Christianity continue to influence politics in ways as great or greater than Evangelical Christianity has gripped the Republican agenda in the U.S.?
ETA: Check out the awesome blog from Michael Petrelis about this subject. He actually did some journalistic digging to find out more, whereas I just did a couple hours of limited online document reading. He’s also been in touch with the head of the Inclusive Foundation, as you’ll see in the comments section of this link. And thanks for commenting, Michael.
Hi,
Glad to find another gay blogger addressing our gay family members and their issues in Georgia. I’ve received positive messages from the leader of the Inclusive Foundation, which are posted on my blog.
Click here to read, in the comments section, what he had to say:
http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2008/08/georgian-gay-leader-is-alive-and-ok.html
Kind of sad only two of us so far blog about gays and the Georgia-Russia war, but better two of us than no one in gay USA paying attention.
warm regards,
michael
hey jere,
happy to comment for you! and thanks for the link to my blog and the messages from paata in georgia. what else can we do to help our gay brothers and sisters over there know we are in solidarity with them? i’d be glad for just a handful more bloggers picking up on the story. the blade’s blog in DC, the towleroad site and pageoneq.com linked to my post, which helped spread the word. let us do more for gay georgians in the next few days, okay?
keep in touch.
michael
I’m emailing a few other more well-read blogs I have some degree of connection to, encouraging them to pick up the story.
Sadly, I think we’re going to have to wait for the conflict to resolve itself a bit more before most of us can do anything. As a pacifist, I wouldn’t encourage our government to get more involved in the war – which would likely cause escalation, but I do think it’s important that we flex as much diplomatic muscle as we can to help bring the bombing to an end, then offer humanitarian aid in rebuilding Georgia.
I’m guessing that encouraging donations to Inclusive Foundation and also in support of the IGLA would be welcome.
I had read your post last night, but wanted a moment to formulate a comment.
(Incidentally, hey Michael! Don’t know if you remember me from when I was gay reporter at large in DC. Glad to see you’re still kickin’ ass.)
As for Georgia.
This is all so complicated. The more I read about it, the more complex it becomes. This adds a whole other layer.
Also, I had put in a status message that I was “concerned about this Russia/Georgia thing” and some stranger started following me on FriendFeed. But when I looked at his posted stories they were all _hardcore_ Russian nationalist “crush Georgia”-type things.
It’s all so damn scary. Can’t imagine what it must be like to live in the thick of that kind of thing for real and up close. With bombs.
Hi Cliff,
I do remember you quite well and the fine reporting you did from DC back in the day. Happy to know you’re glad I’m still here making trouble and advocating in my unique way. Last I heard, you were supposedly down in Miami. Where are you these days and what are you up to?
And thanks for saying something on the situation in Georgia.
-michael