May 17 is the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia. Despite the long history of fighting for the recognition of LGBT(Q)I persons, the real protection of the security and rights of LGBT(Q)I persons and the high level of social homophobia, which has a serious impact on the daily, public and private lives of LGBT(Q)I persons, remains a significant challenge in Georgia. The dramatic events surrounding the recognition and realization of political rights over the past 10 years show the state's demonstrative indifference, political homophobia, and its dire experience of tolerating violence. This policy has severely damaged and continues to impair the opportunities for the development of a democratic, peaceful, and pluralistic society, and has created numerous social crises. For years, the government, political parties, the church, and other actors have been trying to politically instrumentalize LBGTQI people and LGBT(Q)I issues, and this dominant policy has often led to the deprivation of LGBQI people of their lives, dignity, and future.

Although there have been some positive changes on the part of the state in recent years, largely in improving anti-discrimination legislation and equality mechanisms, policies combating hate crime, and eliminating discrimination in school textbooks, measures taken in the direction of equality policy remain fragmented, and the difficulty of political recognition of LGBT(Q)I rights by the authorities, coupled with political homophobia, makes it impossible to substantially improve the legal status of LGBT(Q)I people.

Violence is still a major challenge for LGBT(Q)I persons [1]. Despite the above-mentioned positive changes in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor's Office, the state has not yet developed a unified strategy for effective prevention and response to hate crimes, which should include coordinated work of law enforcement, social, education, and penitentiary systems, and agencies and systematically ensure the protection of the safety and dignity of LGBT(Q)I persons Furthermore, in some cases, particularly those involving police, criminal or disciplinary liability, an effective investigation and true restoration of victims' rights remains a challenge. It is critical for victims of violence to receive appropriate psychosocial and health services that respond to the real needs of people found in the most vulnerable situations, often beyond the support of home and family. For example, the state still does not have a policy for providing adequate housing for victims of violence. Even short-term services such as crisis centers fail to provide long-term security and support for LGBT(Q)I people. [2]

The freedom of assembly and expression for LGBT(Q)I persons is related to increased security risks. Since 2012, LGBT(Q)I persons in Georgia have not been able to enjoy the freedom of assembly in safe and dignified conditions. It is clear that the state is showing demonstrative indifference to the real protection of the right to assembly of LGBT(Q)I persons and is not taking adequate preventive measures to prevent threats and violence from clerical, ultra-conservative groups. Moreover, their loyalty to anti-LGBT(Q)I movements and rhetoric is evident.

The events of July 5–6 last year were especially critical in this regard, when a counter-demonstration of extremist far-right groups made "The Dignity March" in Tbilisi impossible and attacked local media representatives. Although the police were informed of the risks of violence from the organizers and participants of the violent rally, they did not take effective preventive measures to curb the violence and, more importantly, ensure the realization of the freedom of assembly for LGBT(Q)I activists. Moreover, the Prime Minister's unconstitutional statement on the rights of the majority encouraged mass homophobic violence. Against this background, the setting is further exacerbated by the fact that the legal liability of the organizers of violence has not been established to date, which, on the one hand, deepens distrust towards the state and, on the other hand, creates a dangerous tendency to deepen homophobic attitudes and encourage violence. To date, the state has not developed a policy for combating violent extremism, which, beyond legal response, involves large-scale preventive and social work.

It should be noted that on December 16, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights announced a ruling in the case of WOMEN’S INITIATIVE’S SUPPORTING GROUP and others vs. Georgia, which concerns the events and violations of rights at the rally dedicated to IDAHOT Day on May 17, 2013. The Court found a violation of Articles 3 (prohibition of torture), 11 (freedom of assembly and association), and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court found that the authorities had failed to take effective measures to protect the activists despite being duly informed of the relevant risks. Also, according to the court, the evidence proves that there were instigations and consent to the acts of violence by the state. The enforcement of this case, similarly to other cases, is overseen by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, but despite numerous reports and statements of violations of international obligations, the situation in the country in terms of freedom of assembly vis-a-vis LGBT(Q)I persons has not changed.

It is interesting to note that, in the context of the chain of brutal violence against LGBT(Q)I persons over the past 10 years, there is a positive trend of decreasing homophobia in our society, especially among young persons and women. According to the latest research by the Women's Initiative Support Group, the percentage of people who fully or more or less support the restriction of the right of assembly and demonstration for LGBT(Q)I persons is reduced by 25%. Positive dynamics can be seen in the general attitudes towards the LGBT(Q)I community. Nevertheless, more than half of the population maintains sharply conservative attitudes towards LGBTI persons and demonstrates the lack of knowledge about gender identity and sexual orientation issues. Changing these attitudes requires positive state intervention and the establishment of long-term policies to tackle homophobia. However, in the context of strengthening and instrumentalizing political loyalty to the dominant church and nationalist discourses, the expectation that the government will take significant steps to tackle homophobia is low.

Beyond physical violence, LGBT(Q)I persons face dire experiences of institutionalized homophobia, social exclusion, and vulnerability. [3] A separate emphasis should be placed on the tendency of the deteriorating social situation of LGBT(Q)I persons in the context of the pandemic. Against the backdrop of pandemic-related restrictions, the employment and labor rights status of LGBT(Q)I persons has retrogressed, as a significant proportion of community members were employed at precarious workplaces that were most affected or closed during the pandemic. It should be noted that, as in the previous year, the state anti-crisis policy still failed to respond to the needs of LGBT(Q)I people, which negatively affected the socio-economic status of community members. This is evidenced by the increasing tendency of international migration since the start of the pandemic.

Given all the above, we call on the state to:

• Develop a systemic policy to combat homo/bi / transphobia, which entails fostering education and information policies in schools, universities, the public service, and the wider community;
• Reject the rhetoric aimed at normalizing homophobia and non-recognition (silencing) of LGBT(Q)I rights, and recognize the direct impact of discursive violence on the physical safety of LGBT(Q)I person;
• Strengthen hate-crime policy and drastically improve prevention and victim-care approaches;
• Respect LGBT (Q)I people's freedom of assembly and expression, and take all necessary steps to create a safe and dignified public space for them.
• Elaborate effective policies pertaining to extremist violent groups;
• Develop a systemic policy to address LGBT(Q)I person's social exclusion and reflect it in human rights policy documents.

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