Tbilisi, June 1, 2022
Photo: civil.ge
Though Tbilisi Pride Week will be held this year from June 28 to July 2, there will be no so-called “March of Dignity.”
The Tbilisi Pride organization reports:
This year, there is no space for us to hold March for Dignity. We are still the only group that is denied the freedom of assemblies and demonstrations. At the same time, we are dealing with severe problems, such as lack of access to education, employment, healthcare, and housing; non-existent legal recognition of gender, domestic violence, and discrimination on a daily basis. However, we believe that we will change this reality with our vigorous fight and unconditional solidarity toward each other.
This comes a year after the Pride march was canceled after thousands gathered in Tbilisi to protest the LGBT event. Unfortunately, some protestors did become violent, which the Georgian Orthodox Church roundly condemned. The Church held its own prayerful and peaceful protest.
Tbilisi Pride remembers the journalist Lekso Lashkarava, whose “life was taken,” last summer, “as a result of an unprecedented attack on media on the basis of homophobia.” However, the motive for the attack is disputed, and it’s been reported that the culprit was, in fact, mentally ill.
Nevertheless, “Pride Week will be loud, political, emotional, colourful and will bring together everyone who believes in equality!” Tbilisi Pride states.
Events will include the screening of a new “Georgian queer movie,” a regional conference with LGBT activists, and a “grand Pride Festival.”
The Georgian Church came out against the screening of an LGBT film in Georgia in November 2019.
The Metropolitan of the Moldovan Orthodox Church recently issued a call for Pride events there to be canceled, and the autonomous Gaugazia region of Moldova recently voted to ban all such events and such propaganda.
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