Georgia faces its first openly anti LGBTQ+ law and queer organisations are facing threats and violence supported by the state. The law sets basis for ban on queer pride parades and protests and gives the conservative church bigger influence and option to censor what can be in the media. And makes medical transition illegal. One of the founders of Kutaisi pride Miko Shakh, or Asymmetria in drag circles, talks about the current situation of LGBTQ+ rights in Georgia, how life is for average Georgian queer person and how to help.
What role do you have in Kutaisi pride?
I am one of the founders of Kutaisi pride, it has been five years since its establishment in 2019. I was manager of the project Proud families, which focused to family members of LGBTQ+ individuals, specifically parents or other family members who did not accept their children or who are not as tolerant or didn’t know how to fully accept their queer family members. We organised lectures about what is gender, what is gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation. We also had a psychologist, who helped the family members to cope with the stress, peer pressure and pressure from conservative society about these things.
How queer friendly Georgia used to be?
We never had much civil rights for LGBTQ+ individuals or separate law, that would protect these individuals. Only in 2016 there was anti-discrimination law passed which explicitly said that no one has the right to discriminate you based on your sexuality, gender expression or gender identity. That was the first law which stated this protection but that was just because it was one of the requirements from EU to get visa free travel for the country.
Which means that soon after that they introduced constitutional change, which defined marriage as a pact between biological woman and man who can have children together. So, marriage is only for heterosexual people only. It was kind of funny for most liberal minded people here, to see such a quick turnaround. And when I say liberal minded, we use it little bit differently in Georgia. I should clarify, here it means more on the socialist side, liberal left or centre in the political spectrum. Politicians didn’t pay much attention, so even those who were not against LGBTQ+ people, they weren’t ready to invest emotionally or psychically, financially to fight against this change. So now marriage is between man and woman. And this year, first anti-LGBT law was introduced.
What changed with this law?
Politics is not always fully translated into the streets, but obviously it has effect. Like if government and media show messages like “hey, majority of Georgia hates LGBTQ+ people” and “you should not be proud, you should be ashamed of this identity and not speak up about your issues and feelings.” It is very Russian method, because in Russia it has been about 15-20 years since gay community became underground only and it’s erased in the public spaces. It’s not like they are hunting you down, it’s not that aggressive. But in the street, if you choose to wear anything gender non-conforming, like if me as a man have make-up or jewellery, I will attract negative attention, people will call me names and so on. Most of the time its verbal, but in certain situations, it gets physical as well. I had personal experience when group of hateful teenagers beat me up. It was last November, about a year ago. So basically, it’s not like the actions from government mirrors the situation in the streets, but it has big effect on how people perceive queer people.
I am so sorry you had to experience that. How hard is it to make prides in Kutaisi and what obstacle are you facing?
The main problem is that local queer community is very divided, some of the division is based on personal hate or some conflict in the past between the leaders in the movement. Like gay community and lesbian community have sometimes very divided opinions, so they don’t get along. There’s a lot of issues, where they don’t share the same opinion and they don’t unite, so when an event or protest is organised, some people won’t go, because they find it problematic or not effective enough. But it’s not only between gays and lesbians, but also between trans community, gay community, other people. There are about 4 or 5 queer organisations in total and all of them have their own supporters, some of them are common, but sometimes there’s a big division. That’s one of the reasons local queer communities are not as strong and united.
But of course, there are also some hateful groups, fuelled by the governmental services, like Georgian CIA or KGB, and other shitty police organisations which have a lot of access to our private information, like who we sleep with, where do we hang out, what party do we go and so on… They just have a lot of information, and they are not necessarily smart, but they have a lot of resources. So, when we want to organise some pride march or protest, they usually right away threaten us with hateful groups. The police usually come like “sorry, we can’t protect you, because the number of the conservative groups is so great. There is like 10 000 people are coming to beat you up and we don’t have enough people to protect you.” That’s usually their argument. Some negotiations are done in advance and if we skip that, they bring them on the anti-protest groups spot, they call them, like “hey, come here, we’ll give you 20 dollars” and its always baiting the conflict you know.
Are there any politics who are willing to help?
Queer community has been instrumentalised by politics and it seems like nobody genuinely supports us. It’s a matter of how politically valuable we are and how we can be used by the government, what position they can take on the issue, based on what is better for them. We had many cases when certain parties expressed support, but when it came to the government, they were not that enthusiastic anymore. They knew if the openly supported queer people, there would be backlash and they would be called homosexuals themselves and supporters of sin and so on. So that’s why.
How does the new situation affect everyday life?
Worst thing caused by this law against LGBTQ+ propaganda was that community members lost hope and want to leave the country. It has become unbearable with the openly anti-LGBTQ+ attitude, which was not the case before. Many people consider leaving and there’s a lot of nihilism and lack of hope for better future. I myself would present differently and maybe on more feminine side, but I chose not to, because I’m scared for my own safety. It effects mental health, but at least you’re not beaten up in the street.
There’s also economical aspect, because it is kind of hard to live in Georgia’s today economy. There is no support from the government for students or unemployed people, and if you are a queer person openly, and you decide not to hide or you cannot hide it, some jobs might not employ you. Trans* people have very hard time getting job because the employer is asking them to mask their identity. They partially really want to employ them, but don’t really know about how trans identity works. Most trans people then are involved in sex work or some of them are employed in queer organisations as project managers or community workers. But everywhere else, it’s a lot harder.
How does legal transition work? Did it change with the new law?
Unfortunately, yes. Before it was not an issue, trans* people could change their name and they could change their gender marker after surgery, but now surgeries are not permitted anymore. Some doctors might still do it in the shadows, but only for big amount of money. Also, they will do mostly just the less risky ones, like top surgeries. Bottom surgeries are considered too dangerous in these conditions.
Most doctors don’t have problems with queer people, but they can’t perform the operations openly and publicly, because they would get the backlash. So, most people need to leave the country for surgeries officially. And hormone therapy is also illegal with this law, so you need to get it from the black market, which is very risky and lesser quality and then you might not get the proper medical care and risk things like cancer.
Is there any way we can support you?
I think the biggest thing is, if you have any connection with media or you yourself publish media, just to make the situation heard about. Some organisations individually have donation links which you can share. They usually use the money to do certain campaigns or support LGBTQ+ people who are under the risk of being homeless and try to pay the rent for them. For example, there are trans sex workers groups which give trans sex workers food vouchers or pharmacy vouchers. And obviously providing like free std tests, condoms and such. Georgian government does not support this, so it’s mostly foreign donors or WHO and similar organisations.
And you can support us by coming to Georgia if you want to travel. There are amazing castles and churches and techno parties. Just bear in mind, Kutaisi is amazing to be in, but only for like a week if you’re a queer person.
Georgia movement that you can financially support:
Equality Movement
- is the biggest LGBTQ organisation in Georgia which supports the community with free healthcare services and many research projects.
- https://equality.ge/
Tbilisi Pride
- is the first organisation which exclusively works on the visibility politics/identity politics but at the same time respecting principles of Intersectionality.
- https://tbilisipride.ge/en/
WISG – Womens Initiative Supporting Group
- They primarily work with women, including queer women – many different projects including advocacy and legal support.
- https://wisg.org/ka
Temida
- Association who help mostly Trans Individuals to transition but also support to get education and if necessary migrate to other country. They also manage small shelter for queer people.
- https://temida.org.ge/