LGBT issues used to exacerbate social, political tensions in Georgia – ruling party MP

Irakli Kadagishvili, the chairman of the procedural issues and rules committee in the Georgian Parliament from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday claimed discussions around the topics of sexual minorities in the country “tend to exacerbate both social and political tensions”. 

Kadagishvili emphasized that while the constitution protected the rights of all individuals, including sexual minorities, further promotion of lifestyles divergent from societal norms was deemed “unnecessary and provocative”.

He pointed out the existence of anti-discrimination laws safeguarding the rights of all citizens, including sexual minorities, thereby asserting that the constitution provided “adequate regulation” and criticized the “persistent invasion” of such topics into Georgian discourse, attributing it to external influences rather than domestic demands.

Kadagishvili suggested that financing of events promoting LGBT issues by foreign embassies indicated external involvement in the actualization of the LGBT community within Georgia and asserted such initiatives were not organically driven from within Georgian society, but rather imposed from external sources with financial backing.