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Violent mob forces cancellation of Tbilisi Pride in Georgia

March organizers’ offices ransacked, journalists attacked

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(Screenshot courtesy of Dutch MP Ruben Brekelmans Twitter page)

A violent mob forced the cancellation of a Pride march that was to have taken place in Georgia’s capital on Monday.

Videos show what one source described to the Washington Blade as a “marginal mob of Christian and far-right extremists” ripping down a Pride flag that Tbilisi Pride had hung from the balcony of its offices. Tbilisi Pride Director Giorgi Tabagari later posted to social media a video that showed the mob ransacked them.

Media reports indicate the mob attacked journalists and stabbed at least one person.

“They declared war against civil society, democratic values and the European course of the country,” said Tbilisi Pride in a statement it released after it officially cancelled the march.

Tbilisi Pride and other Georgian LGBTQ activists accused the former Soviet republic’s government of not doing enough to protect march participants. Tbilisi Pride in its statement also sharply criticized Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Patriarch Ilia of the Georgian Orthodox Church and “pro-Russian groups” for comments they made before and after the march’s cancellation.

“The (Georgia) Ministry of Internal Affairs, despite having all opportunities to ensure the safety of Pride Week participants, did not take any action to protect the fundamental rights of people,” said Tbilisi Pride. “Tbilisi Pride members, representatives of international organizations and (members of the) diplomatic corps had a number of meetings with MIA representatives. They knew our action strategy. They were offered specific plans … but instead of measures, we have been watching from the morning government representatives encouraging violent groups.”

The American, Austrian, Bulgarian, British, Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Israeli, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish embassies in a joint statement condemned the violence. The U.N. and European Union missions in the country were also signatories.

“We condemn todayā€™s violent attacks on the civic activists, community members and journalists, as well as the failure of the government leaders and religious officials to condemn this violence,” reads the statement.Ā “Participation in peaceful gatherings is a human right guaranteed by Georgiaā€™s Constitution.Ā Violence is simply unacceptable and cannot be excused.Ā Those who incite or threaten violence or commit violent acts are interfering with the efforts of Georgiaā€™s law enforcement professionals to uphold a safe and secure environment.Ā They should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” Ā 

“We call on all Georgiaā€™s leaders and law enforcement to act swiftly to protect those exercising their Constitutional rights to freedom of expression and assembly, to protect journalists exercising freedom of the press, and to publicly condemn violence,” it adds.

ILGA-Europe is among the LGBTQ rights groups that have also condemned the violence. Civil.ge, a Georgian news website, reported that authorities have launched an investigation.

NOM president traveled to Tbilisi in June

The first Tbilisi Pride march was to have taken place in June 2019, but organizers postponed it amid protests against a Russian MP who spoke at the Georgian Parliament. A small Pride demonstration took place a few weeks later.

U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan in May faced criticism after she met with Georgian Orthodox Church Archbishop Iakob.

Civil.ge Editor-in-Chief Otar “Otto” Kobakhidze in a series of tweets noted Iakob “led a program against LGBTQ activists in downtown Tbilisi” on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia in 2013.

National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown traveled to Georgia last week. Brown on June 23 participated in a Tbilisi press conference with Levan Vesadze, an anti-LGBTQ Georgian businessman who recently founded an ultranationalist political party.

“In country after country we find men and women, men like Levan, who act and stand for truth, for the family,” said Brown. “No lies, no slurs will stop us.”

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Australia

Lesbian tennis player from Russia defects to Australia

Daria Kasatkina has publicly criticized war in Ukraine

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Daria Kasatkina (Screen capture via Tennis Channel/YouTube)

A Russian tennis player who came out as a lesbian and publicly criticized her home country’s war against Ukraine has defected to Australia.

“My application for permanent residency has been accepted by the Australian government,” said Daria Kasatkina in an Instagram post on March 28. “Australia is a place I love, is incredibly welcoming and a place where I feel totally at home. I love being in Melbourne and look forward to making my home there. As part of this, I am proud to announce that I will be representing my new homeland, Australia, in my professional tennis career from this point on onwards.”

The Telegraph reported Kasatkina in 2023 said she left Russia because she did not feel safe “as a gay person who opposes the war.” Kasatkina’s partner is Natalia Zabiiako, a Russian Olympic figure skater who was born in Estonia.

“Obviously, there are parts of this decision that have not been easy,” said Kasatkina in her Instagram post. “I want to express my thanks and gratitude to my family, coaches, and everyone who has supported me throughout my tennis journey to date.”

“I will always have respect and fond appreciation for my roots, but I am thrilled to start this new chapter in my career and my life under the Australian flag,” she added.

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Argentina

LGBTQ seniors in Argentina face uncertain future

President Javier Milei’s policies have disproportionately impacted retired pensioners

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Puerta Abierta a la Diversidad is Argentina's first home for LGBTQ seniors. (Photo courtesy of Puerta Abierta a la Diversidad)

Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers will be on assignment in Argentina and Uruguay through April 12.

Argentina has undergone significant changes in its economic and social policies since President Javier Milei’s inauguration in December 2023. These changes have had a significant impact on various sectors of society, especially retirees and the LGBTQ community.

Mercedes Caracciolo, a 79-year-old sociologist and lesbian activist, shared her experience with the Washington Blade on how the new measures have affected her quality of life.

“Since Milei’s arrival in government, which began with a brutal devaluation, I am more careful in my spending than I was before,” she said.

Although Caracciolo has additional income from rental properties, she recognizes the situation is much more critical for those who exclusively depend on a pension.

With more than 7 million people receiving pensions, many find themselves “scratching the poverty line” due to the loss of purchasing power. The libertarian government’s economic policies have drastically affected their welfare, leading to a wave of protests across the country.

The reduction of social programs and the lack of LGBTQ-specific public policies have deepened the difficulties that seniors already face. The loss of economic stability particularly affects those who have historically lived on the margins, with fewer job opportunities and limited access to a decent retirement. Many older LGBTQ people, who have spent their lives unable to form traditional families, now find themselves without a support network and with an increasingly less present State.

The advance of conservative discourses has also generated a climate of insecurity and fear.

“There is no more sense of security and stability in old age,” Graciela Balestra, a psychologist who is the president of Puerta Abierta a la Diversidad, the first home for LGBTQ seniors in Argentina, explained. “Many LGBTQ+ retirees fear that there are fewer and fewer rights. They see what is happening in Argentina and globally with the advance of the right wing, and they feel that what they worked so hard to achieve is in jeopardy.”

In addition to economic difficulties, the LGBTQ community has faced additional challenges.

Caracciolo noted many supportive spaces have had their government subsidies reduced or eliminated, weakening community networks essential to the well-being of LGBTQ seniors.

“Community networks are also weakened because many of them require state support for certain types of expenses,” she noted.

Balestra warned about the psychological impact.

“Obviously it impacted mental health. There is much more anxiety, there is fear. People who say ‘I’m afraid they’ll kill me’ or ‘I’m afraid to show myself,'” she said. “Before, they used to walk down the street holding hands with their partner, and now they don’t do it anymore. A lot of hopelessness.”

For Balestra, the concern goes beyond the LGBTQ community.

“The economic issue, the rights issue, the fear that something similar to the dictatorship will return. All of this is very scary. And besides, the hopelessness of believing that this is going to continue, that it is not going to change even in the next elections,” she said.

Civil society organizations have denounced an “adjustment” in policies related to gender and diversity that Milei’s government has undertaken. Pride marches in Argentina have become a stage for protests against the president’s policies, especially over his speeches that activists consider hateful towards the LGBTQ community.

Balestra stresses the fear is not only individual, but collective.

“Human rights no longer exist anywhere, women no longer have the place they used to have, they are once again objectified, machismo is on the rise again,” she said. “This brings a lot of despair to older people.”

Despite the climate of uncertainty, Balestra emphasizes resistence forces are still in force.

“We continue working, as always,” she said. “For 25 years at Puerta Abierta we have been doing reflection groups, cultural workshops, social meetings, all with respect to being able to make LGBT people aware of their rights. We never stop meeting, but lately we are talking more and more about these things that we had already left a little behind. The issue of coming out, fear, visibility. Now we have to talk about it again.”

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Africa

Report: Anti-LGBTQ discrimination has cost East African countries billions

Open for Business highlights Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda

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(Bigstock photo)

The economies of four East African countries are losing more than $5 billion a year because of discrimination against LGBTQ people.

The 80-page report that Open for Business, a coalition of leading global organizations that champion LGBTQ inclusion, released in late March focuses on Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. It attributes the losses to anti-homosexuality laws, and predicts more economic costs if lawmakers implement other harsh anti-LGBTQ measures.

The report notes Uganda is losing $2.4 billion, or 5.2 percent of its GDP, annually because of the Anti-Homosexuality Act that took effect in 2023. Open for Business last October revealed the country had already lost $1.6 billion in foreign direct investment, donor aid, trade, tourism, public health and productivity after President Yoweri Museveni signed the law.

Kenya is losing $1.5 billion, or 1.38 percent of its GDP.

The report warns that enacting the pending Family Protection Bill would cost the country an additional $6.3 billion, or 5.8 percent of its GDP, annually. Opposition MP Peter Kaluma, who has introduced the measure, in January claimed the Biden-Harris administration had blocked it and vowed to have fellow MPs pass it after U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Kaluma is a strong supporter of Trump and the Republican Party’s opposition to LGBTQ rights and other far-right conservative ideologies.

Tanzania is losing $1.1 billion, or 1.33 percent of its GDP, because of anti-LGBTQ discrimination. Rwanda is losing $45 million, or .32 percent of its GDP.

Homosexuality is not illegal in Rwanda unlike the other three countries, but consensual same-sex sexual relationships remain taboo. Queer Rwandans also face stigma, discrimination, social exclusion, and arbitrary detention.

ā€œA series of private member bills in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania have threatened to pull the region back in terms of progress and human rights for LGBTQ+ people, and damage both the ease of doing business and their international reputation,ā€ states the Open for Business CEO Dominic Arnall.

Arnall notes his organizationā€™s extensive engagement with businesses across East Africa over the last five years has always linked harmful anti-LGBTQ laws to impacts on a countryā€™s investment prospects.

ā€œThe finding lays bare an uncomfortable truth: That laws that harm the LGBTQ+ community are standing in the way of prosperity and growth for all citizens in the region,ā€ he said.  

The report calls for LGBTQ inclusion as part of the region’s broader economic development agenda.

The Open for Business report notes anti-gay violence and discrimination in Tanzania has been on the rise since the late-President John Magufuli came to power in 2015. The country’s punitive anti-homosexuality law with a 30-year prison sentence for consensual same-sex sexual relations was already in place, but queer Tanzanians were generally not systematically targeted.

ā€œReporting of neighbors or community members for suspected homosexuality is frequent and law enforcement officers have been known to pose as members of the LGBTQ+ community to entrap and blackmail LGBTQ+ individuals,ā€ states the report.  

It also notes the Tanzanian governmentā€™s crackdown on websites and social media accounts that promote LGBTQ rights and threatening the arrests of administrators who allow such content. The report concludes this suppression has caused queer people to live in fear and isolation.

Religious organizations, particularly Christian churches in Tanzania, also champion anti-LGBTQ rhetoric by encouraging their followers against tolerating homosexuality and transgender people. Politicians, meanwhile, use anti-LGBTQ narratives to gain support during campaigns.

While Rwanda stands out as the only East African country in which homosexuality is not criminalized and has foreign donors implementing programs that target the queer community, discussing LGBTQ rights in public is rare and same-sex relationships are not legally recognized. The Open for Business report notes this situation creates legal ambiguity and a fragile social environment for queer Rwandans.

ā€œSeveral LGBTQ+ rights organizations have emerged in recent years, mostly in Kigali, although they do not always identify themselves as LGBTQ+ associations and are rarely formally registered, making it difficult for them to receive funding,ā€ reads the report.

The Rwandan government has rejected calls to criminalize homosexuality, which it considers a ā€œprivate matter.ā€ It has also been adamant against efforts to protect queer people for fear of domestic opposition and a desire not to politicize the issue like in neighboring countries.

Kenya, like Rwanda, has for a long time been considered more receptive of queer people, “as long as LGBTQ members are not ā€˜too loud.ā€™ā€

Anyone convicted under Kenya’s colonial-era sodomy law could face up to 14 years in prison. Efforts to enact a harsh anti-homosexuality law and anti-LGBTQ protests that religious leaders, politicians, and activists have organized have increased homophobia in the country.

ā€œLGBTQ individuals report significant difficulties in securing formal employment, which pushes many of them into more precarious livelihoods in the informal sector,ā€ states the report.

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