Georgian Dream members and pro-government media have doubled down on warnings that Brussels will force Georgia to legalize same-sex marriage, seizing on a recent ruling by the EU’s top court that requires member states to recognize same-sex marriages performed within the bloc.
On November 25, the European Court of Justice issued a binding ruling requiring EU member states to recognize same-sex marriages concluded within the bloc, finding that Poland’s refusal to register a marriage performed in Germany violated both freedom of movement and the right to private life. The ruling, however, does not require the member states to legalize same-sex marriage.
The news was rapidly picked up by pro-government media. Imedi TV, which has actively exploited homophobia in its anti-EU narratives, published what critics deemed a manipulative card stating: “It was stated in the EU supreme court that same-sex marriage must be recognized in every state of the bloc.”
Reacting to the ruling, Georgian Dream MP Nino Tsilosani said the decision “directly answers the question raised by those foolish and harmful propagandists who mockingly asked, ‘So are they planning to marry off Georgian men?’” She added, “Yes.”
“This court decision tells us that, even though the Georgian people have effectively made a choice, almost like in a referendum, that family values for us mean a relationship between a man and a woman […] and that we must protect children from LGBT propaganda, it turns out that this national legislation that we adopted at the request of the Georgian people, means nothing if another country legalizes same-sex marriage,” Tsilosani told Imedi TV.
“And it turns out they would force us, just as in Poland’s case, where a member state was obliged to recognize a decision made in another member state, to take that into account,” she added.
Georgian Dream and its affiliated media outlets have long framed EU integration as being at odds with what they describe as “family values.” The message has gained renewed prominence amid fears that Georgia could lose visa-free travel with the EU and as Brussels urged the GD government to repeal several controversial legislation, including the anti-LGBT “Law on the Protection of Family Values and Minors,” which GD claims was adopted to counter what it calls “LGBT propaganda.”
“We have been saying that the time would come when the Euro-bureaucracy would oblige all member states to make same-sex marriage mandatory,” Guram Macharashvili of the People’s Power, GD’s main offshoot anti-Western group, claimed.
“When they told us, ‘Who is forcing you to legalize same-sex marriage?’ – what will they say now, when Euro-bureaucracy, the justice system, has directly ordered member states to recognize the marriage of same-sex individuals as a family? This is exactly the reality that we will never accept in Georgia,” he added.
Pro-government channels covered the court’s decision on social media without explaining the broader context, namely, that the ruling requires member states to recognize the registration of same-sex marriages performed elsewhere in the bloc, but does not oblige any EU country to legalize same-sex marriage domestically.
Also Read:
- 04/09/2024 – EU “Deplores” Advance of Anti-LGBT Legislation in Georgia
- 27/06/2024 – Anti-LGBT Legislation Passed in First Reading
- 25/03/2024 – GD Pushes for Anti-LGBT Constitutional Law