(Mikheil Kumsishvili – Labor Party Youth Wing Leader)
The church declaring the 17th of May as Familiy Sanctity day is their counterattack against LGBTQ community, who is protesting against oppression on homophobic grounds on this very day. In my own view, any organization or individual, including the church, has the right to celebrate some particular event whenever they want, if it counts as their freedom of expression. But I don’t understand why religious institutions express so much hate toward those who have especially hard lives and unfair treatment of them is not uncommon. After all, Christianity itself is supposed to help and support those who are oppressed…
By my evaluations, society’s attitudes aren’t something to be envious of. Today, the majority of the population is really stereotyped towards homosexuals and perceives it as a certain “disease” rather than a natural phenomenon. This is mainly caused by Russian propaganda and misinformation in the Georgian media sphere. It is part of Russia’s hybrid war to not allow Georgia to develop democratic values, as well as not to protect human rights and not to make the mentality of the society more tolerant. This will let Russia keep Georgia in its orbit and not allow it to integrate in western society.
Those political groups that encourage and support violence on homophobic grounds are either financed from Russia or themselves are victims of Russian ideology. When there is a demand from the society for homophobic politics, there will be groups that will fulfill that demand. Not only is there an invisible hand in economics, but in politics the same principle applies, when there is demand – there is supply, it is a kind of chain reaction.
Any event that fits into freedom of thought and expression is acceptable to me and the legislation in this regard is more or less regulated. However, the extent to which it is actually enforced and the weather law enforcement ensures the safe and complete implementation of the measure is a separate issue. The past has shown us that these types of problems are still not solved.
Organizing a march should become an event for the sake of an event. It has to actually accomplish its goals – reducing homophobic attitudes, raising public awareness and making it more tolerant. I think, to reach this goal, very well organized events with high attendance are needed.
Otherwise the community can be more discredited rather than being aided. Because of this, members of the community must treat this subject with great responsibility. They need to prepare proper ground, the organizational, as well as in terms of campaign.
To those members of the community that live in regions, I’d say that they are not alone and don’t have some kind of disease. They should love themselves and not reject themselves just because they are different from the majority. Try to establish relationships with relevant organizations that work on LGBTQ issues, get more information, raise awareness and make friends who will understand them. In the modern world, using social networks, all this is simplified.
