Georgian Dream Pushes Amendments to Remove ‘Gender’ from the Legislation
On February 24, the ruling Georgian Dream party MPs along with the pseudo-opposition People’s Power, introduced a legislative package in the rump parliament that seeks to eliminate the terms “gender” and “gender identity” from all Georgian legislation. The registered bill also seeks to rename the “Law on Gender Equality” as the “Law on Equality between Women and Men.”
According to the explanatory note, gender is an “artificially created term,” and after Donald Trump assumed the presidency, “discussions about the dishonest motives and directed nature of this artificial process have become increasingly active.”
The explanatory note further claims that the term “gender” will be removed from Georgian legislation since it’s necessary to “reinforce at the legislative level the principle of equality between men and women as recognized by the Constitution of Georgia.”
The proposed amendments aim to liquidate the Parliament’s Gender Equality Council. The state budget had allocated 50 thousand GEL for gender-related work, which will now be redirected through other parliamentary committees and structures to focus on “equality issues between women and men.” Similarly, the bill proposes abolishing Gender Equality Councils in Georgia’s Autonomous Republics and municipalities, for the sake of reducing administrative expenses.
The authors and initiators of the draft law are the following GD and People’s Power MPs: Archil Gorduladze, Tornike Cheishvili, Rati Ionatamishvili, Davit Matikashvili, Guram Macharashvili, Alexandre Tabatadze, Tengiz Sharmanashvili, Aluda Ghudushauri, Viktor Japaridze, Sozar Subari, Nodar Turdzeladze, Irma Zavradashvili, Levan Machavariani, Ramina Beradze, Irakli Kirtskhalia, Salome Jinjolava, Tornike Berekashvili, Genrieta Tsitsava, Mamuka Mdinaradze.
On the same day, Georgian Dream (GD) introduced another legislative initiative – the “Foreign Agents Registration Act.” GD Majority Leader Mamuka Mdinaradze called the bill an “exact copy” of the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). In a statement, the GD claimed that the draft was a “Georgian translation” of the current U.S. law.
This is not the first legislative move by Georgian Dream targeting gender-related policies. On September 17, 2024, Parliament adopted an anti-LGBTQ+ legislative package which included a bill, “On Protection of Family Values and Minors,” along with 18 related amendments to various laws. The law which came into effect in December, was rebuked by the Venice Commission and most recently by an advocate organization ILGA-Europe.
Also Read:
- 02/12/2024 – Georgian Dream’s Oppressive Anti-LGBT Law Comes into Effect
- 27/06/2024 – Anti-LGBT Legislation Passed in First Reading
- 25/03/2024 – GD Pushes for Anti-LGBT Constitutional Law
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)