Tyrannical anti-LGBTQ+ law in Georgia blamed for trans model’s murder

It appears to be no coincidence that one of Georgia’s first openly trans public figures, model Kesaria Abramidze, 37, was murdered in her Tbilisi apartment the day after Georgian lawmakers gave their approval to the final reading of a draconian anti-LGBTQ+ law mid-September.

Under the ruling Georgian Dream party, which has taken an increasingly anti-liberal stance on such issues, the country has witnessed a spike in violence against LGBTQ+ people, according to The Guardian.

Now the ruling party’s “family values” law which will entirely curtail LGBTQ+ rights is being blamed for stoking up hatred against minorities, resulting in Abramidze’s fatal stabbing.

The new law will mean the authorities are legally able to ban Pride events and the LGBTQ+ rainbow flag in public spaces, and censor films and books while enforcing the existing ban on same sex marriage and gender reassignment surgery.

The law is suspected to be designed to curry favor with voters who will go to the polls on October 26. Swathes of Georgians are known to be heavily influenced by the ultra-conservative Orthodox Church.

Last year, hundreds of anti-LGBTQ protesters stormed a gay festival in Tbilisi and in 2024 thousands came out in support of “traditional family values” at an event staged by the ruling Georgian Dream party and the Orthodox Church in the capital.

“There is a direct correlation between the use of hate speech in politics and hate crimes,” the Social Justice Center, a Tbilisi-based human rights group, said in a statement referring to Abramidze’s murder.

Photo: screenshot from Social Justice Center website.

“It has been almost a year that the Georgian Dream government has been aggressively using homo/bi/transphobic language and cultivating it with mass propaganda means,” the organization added.

The law has also drawn criticism from European leaders, alarmed at its similarities to anti-LGBTQ+ policies implemented in Russia, which is seeming to wield increasing influence over Georgia.

In response to Abramidze’s murder, Josep Borrell, the EU’s Foreign Affairs representative, urged the Georgian government to backtrack on its legislation, writing on X that it would “increase discrimination & stigmatization.”

Borrell’s criticism was repeated by German politician Michael Roth who said on X: “Those who sow hatred will reap violence. Kesaria Abramidze was killed just one day after the Georgian parliament passed the anti-LGBTQ+ law.”

Photo: screenshot from Michael Roth's X account.

Tamara Jakeli, director of campaign group Tbilisi Pride told Reuters, “This law is the most terrible thing to happen to the LGBTQ+ community in Georgia.” She added it could only be stopped if Georgian Dream were to lose power in October.

Photo: screenshot from Tbilisi Pride X account.

In one of the ruling party's election campaign advertisements aired on Georgian television, Jakeli’s face is shown alongside the words: "No to moral degradation.”

Photo: screenshot from Tbilisi Pride X account.

Georgia has ambitions to join the European Union, but policies such as this new anti-LGBTQ+ law, only undermines them, with EU News citing Borrell’s conclusion that it is “further derailing the country from its EU path.”

Photo: screenshot from Tbilisi Pride X account.

The country’s president Salome Zourabichvili, a critic of the ruling party, has indicated that she will do everything in her power to block the law, though her power is largely ceremonial.

Taking to social media, Zourabichvili said that Abramidze’s murder should be a “wake-up call” for Georgian society. “A terrible murder! The death of this beautiful young woman … should not be in vain!”

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Photo: screenshot from OC-media.org website