Georgia’s President Salome Zurabishvili has declined to sign a contentious bill criticized by human rights organizations and European officials for its potential to limit LGBTQ rights, according to reports on Wednesday.
The ruling party, Georgian Dream, passed the so-called “family values” bill last month with a vote that the opposition boycotted, raising tensions as the country approaches important parliamentary elections on October 26.
“President Zurabishvili refused to sign the bill and returned it to parliament without exercising her veto,” stated Marika Bochoidze, a spokesperson for the presidency.
It is anticipated that the parliament’s speaker and co-sponsor of the bill, Shalva Papuashvili, will ultimately sign it into law.
The legislation resembles laws in Russia that restrict LGBTQ rights, targeting what it describes as “propaganda of same-sex relationships and incest” in educational settings and television broadcasts. Additionally, it would prohibit gender transition, block adoption by gay and transgender individuals, and invalidate same-sex marriages performed outside Georgia.
Critics have also condemned the bill’s language that equates homosexual relationships with incest. Papuashvili defended the bill by stating it aims to “strengthen mechanisms for the protection of minors and family values based on the union of a woman and a man.”
Zurabishvili, a pro-European leader with limited political power, has increasingly clashed with the Georgian Dream party in recent years. The introduction of this bill follows Tbilisi’s recent enactment of an anti-NGO “foreign influence” law, which sparked weeks of large-scale anti-government protests and condemnation from Western nations.
Brussels has repeatedly cautioned that Georgia is straying from its goal of joining the European Union due to legislation that contradicts European values. Last month, the EU remarked that the proposed bill “undermines the fundamental rights of Georgians and risks further stigmatization and discrimination against part of the population.”
The adoption of such measures would have “significant repercussions” on Tbilisi’s European integration aspirations and could further strain relations with the EU, according to statements from the bloc.