2013 Tbilisi protests | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date | 17 May 2013 | ||
Location | |||
Methods | Demonstrations, violent clashes | ||
Parties | |||
A rally against homophobia was held in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 17, 2013, the International Day Against Homophobia. Gay rights activists holding the rally were met by thousands of protestors opposing homosexuality, who broke through a police cordon and violently pursued them, beating and throwing stones at them. [4]
Two days earlier, Ilia II of Georgia, the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, had called for banning the gay rights rally, describing homosexuality as an "anomaly and disease." [5] The day before the rally, Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili stated that LGBT individuals "have the same rights as any other social groups" in Georgia. [6]
Dozens of gay rights activists had gathered in downtown Tbilisi for the rally. A reported 20,000 Georgian Orthodox church members protested, led by church priests, and a clash ensued in Pushkin Park, near Freedom Square.[ citation needed ] Police forces did not prevent the homophobic protesters from running at the anti-homophobia rally participants, [7] as priests asked. [4] Anti-homophobia demonstrators were evacuated by the police in buses, which were attacked by the counter-demonstrators. [8] 17 people were injured in the clashes. [9]
The violence was widely condemned by foreign embassies, [10] [11] and non-governmental organisations including Transparency Georgia, the Georgian Young Lawyers' Organization [12] and Amnesty International. [13] Ilia II of Georgia condemned any violence, but reiterated his view that homosexuality is a sin and should not be popularized. [14] The Ministry of Internal Affairs launched an investigation and promised prosecution of the perpetrators. [15] Paul Rimple and Mark Mullen have described the events as part of a larger struggle between the church and the secular government. [16] [17]
On the 16th of December 2021, the European Court of Human Rights judged that the failure to protect the demonstration by Georgia state was a violation of the articles 3, 14 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. [18]
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) people frequently experience violence directed toward their sexuality, gender identity, or gender expression. This violence may be enacted by the state, as in laws prescribing punishment for homosexual acts, or by individuals. It may be psychological or physical and motivated by biphobia, gayphobia, homophobia, lesbophobia, and transphobia. Influencing factors may be cultural, religious, or political mores and biases.
Freedom of religions in Georgia is provided for by the country's constitution, laws, and policies. In practice, the Georgian government generally respects religious freedom; however, the Georgian Orthodox Church enjoys a privileged status in terms of legal and tax matters, involvement in public schools, and property disputes. There have been efforts by private citizens, local government officials, and local Georgian Orthodox Church leaders to harass and persecute members of minority religious groups and interfere with their worship activities; despite calls for tolerance and respect for pluralism by government leaders, the Georgian central government has not been successful in preventing such incidents.
Ilia II, also transcribed as Ilya or Elijah, is the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the spiritual leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church. He is officially styled as "Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi and Metropolitan Bishop of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II."
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons in Belarus face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in Belarus. Households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. Belarus provides no anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people, nor does it prohibit hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Serbia face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in Serbia, and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is banned in areas such as employment, education, media, and the provision of goods and services, amongst others. Nevertheless, households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Ukraine face legal and social challenges not experienced by non-LGBT individuals; historically, the prevailing social and political attitudes have been intolerant of LGBT people, and strong evidence suggests this attitude remains in parts of the wider society. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and Ukraine's independence in 1991, the Ukrainian LGBT community has gradually become more visible and more organized politically, organizing several LGBT events in Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Kryvyi Rih.
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Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, may be based on irrational fear and may sometimes be related to religious beliefs.
Human rights in Georgia are guaranteed by the country's constitution. There is an independent human rights Public Defender of Georgia elected by the parliament to ensure such rights are enforced. However, it has been alleged by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the United States Department of State and the Georgian opposition that these rights are often breached.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Georgia face significant challenges that non-LGBT people do not experience. Georgia is one of only a few countries in the former Soviet space that directly prohibits discrimination against all LGBT people in legislation, labor-related or otherwise. Since 2012, Georgian law has considered crimes committed on the grounds of one's sexual orientation or gender identity an aggravating factor in prosecution. The legislative ban on discrimination has been enacted as a part of the Government efforts to bring the country closer to the European Union and make the country's human rights record in line with the demands of Georgia's European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
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