LGBT rights in Georgia

Georgia to the XIX century

Christianity in Georgia became the state religion in the IV century ^{[1] [2]} . This religion has traditionally negatively related to same-sex relationships (as well as to any sex outside of marriage ). In 1103, the Georgian King David IV convened the Ruissko-Urbnisa Council, designed to strengthen his power at the expense of church reform. Among other things, the ruler accused his opponents of debauchery and “sodomy”, with the result that the 18th article of the Council resolution condemned the “sodom sin” as “the most vile” ^[3] .

Medieval Georgian law, cited in the Vakhtangov collection of laws (Laws of Tsar George (XIV century), Sudebnik Beki and Agbugi (XIV-XV centuries), Laws of Catholicos (XVI century), Laws of King Vakhtang VI (XVIII century), did not provide for penalties same-sex relationships. Although this phenomenon is mentioned there - cheating a husband with a woman or a man could be a reason for a wife to divorce. At the same time, the Vakhtangov collection contained two paragraphs in the part relating to the review of foreign law, which was of an introductory nature: in the “Greek Laws” § 51 prescribed the death penalty for “sodomy”, and in the “Laws of the Armenians” § 178 considered a penalty for this ^{[4 ]} .

Within the Russian Empire

In 1781, Georgia became part of the Russian Empire as the Georgian province of the Caucasian governorship . In 1840, it was transformed into the Georgian-Imereti province , and in 1846 it was divided into Tiflis , Kutaisi , Shemakhi and Derbent . These areas had some legal autonomy - the Vakhtangov collection was used in civil matters ^[5] .

Until the first half of the XIX century, the Council Code of 1649, which regulated, inter alia, criminal law , operated on the territory of the empire. It did not mention homosexuality , as a result of which it remained for the civilian population a religious and moral problem, but not a legal one. Only in the army same-sex contacts between men were punishable in accordance with military and naval regulations. In the reign of Nicholas I , a legislative reform was carried out - in 1832 the first " Code of Laws of the Russian Empire " was published, which entered into force three years later. The new criminal law, which also extended to the territory of Georgia, provided for the prosecution of homosexual men . According to him, the perpetrators of “chastity” were deprived of all rights and referred to settlement in Siberia (later they were put in prison for a term of 4 to 5 years) ^{[6] [7] [8]} .

At the same time, the Caucasian governor-general was issued a decree according to which the courts were instructed in such cases to impose minimum terms of punishment ^{[9] [10]} . It is noteworthy that since 1911 more than half of the sentences in the empire fell on the Caucasus region. Such statistics are explained by researchers as a result of the social upheavals of 1905, as well as the beginning of recording data from the southern provinces, where the authorities regarded same-sex relations among members of the local population as “savage custom” to be eradicated ^{[11] [12] [13]} . An anthropologist and doctor, Dr. E. V. Erickson, described the prevalence of same-sex relationships in the Caucasus and in Georgia in particular ^[14] .

In the USSR

After the fall of the empire, the Soviet state abandoned the persecution of homosexuals. However, in the criminal codes of the Georgian and Abkhazian Soviet Socialist Republic there were bans on voluntary same-sex relationships, which, like in tsarist times, were explained by the allegedly “high prevalence” of such relationships, and the very phenomenon of homosexuality was declared a “savage relic”, a result of social conditions, a consequence of the backwardness of indigenous peoples. After the wording of 1924, article 171 of the 1922 Criminal Code of the GSSR stated: “Perverted satisfaction of sexual passion in the form of pederasty, except for the cases mentioned in Art. 170 (“sexual intercourse with persons who have not reached puberty”) entails imprisonment of up to one year for both parties involved ” ^{[15] [16]} . Article 171a of the Criminal Code of the Abkhaz SSR, which was in force until 1925-1928, also provided for punishment for "pederasty". The Criminal Code of the Georgian SSR of 1928 retained these articles ^{[9] [17]} . After the introduction of the criminal persecution of homosexual men throughout the USSR in 1933 during political repression by JV Stalin , the terms of imprisonment were increased - for same-sex contacts it was assumed from 3 to 5 years in prison. The criminal reform of 1960 did not make fundamental changes. One of the famous Soviet criminal processes is the case of the head of the Georgian Society of Cultural Relations (GOKS) N. M. Mikava , which was held in 1948, and 8 people were convicted, including the well-known in the future director S. I. Paradzhanov . According to some evidence, this process was politically motivated ^{[18] [19] [20]} .

After the collapse of the USSR, the 1960 Criminal Code of the Georgian SSR operated in Georgia for another 9 years. On June 1, 2000, the Criminal Code of Georgia entered into force, which does not provide for penalties for homosexuality.

The government is trying to bring human rights in the country in line with the requirements of Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration. Former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili said in 2013 that “sexual minorities are citizens like us ... [and that] society will gradually get used to it.” ^[21]

Since 2006, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the workplace has been prohibited in accordance with the new Labor Code. In accordance with the amendment to the Criminal Code of Georgia ( 2012 ), crimes committed against persons on the basis of sexual orientation are considered an aggravating circumstance and may lead to wider punishment.

On 2 May 2014, the Parliament of Georgia adopted an anti-discrimination law prohibiting all forms of discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, which entered into force on the date of publication on 7 May 2014 . ^[22]

In Georgia, the LGBT community opposed the Orthodox Church . Thus, Patriarch Ilya II called on the authorities to ban gay parades, calling them “violation of the rights of the majority” and “insulting all Georgians ” ^[23] .

• Identoba

• Dan Healy Homosexual Attraction in Revolutionary Russia: Regulation of Sexual-Gender Dissidence = Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia. ed. L. V. Bessmertnykh, Yu. A. Mikhailov, trans. from English T.Y. Logacheva. V.I. Novikov. - Moscow: Ladomir Research Center, 2008. - 624 p. - (Russian secret literature). - 1000 copies - ISBN 978-5-86218-470-9 .
• Kon I. S. Faces and masks of same-sex love. Moonlight at dawn . - 2nd ed., Pererab. and additional .. - Moscow: AST, Olympus, 2003. - 574 p. - 5000 copies - ISBN 5-17-015194-2 , 5-8195-0836-X.
• Dan Healey. Russian Homophobia from Stalin to Sochi. - Bloomsbury Academic, 2017. - 272 p. - ISBN 978-1350000773 .