Pro-Russia government in nation of Georgia peddles LGBT conspiracy theories

Georgian Dream promotes conspiracy theories about LGBT people to demonize the European Union

The European Union is threatening to bar citizens of the nation of Georgia from traveling to the EU without visas over the government’s failure to protect LGBTIQ people’s rights and its enactment of anti-democratic legislation.

On Oct. 7, the European Parliament approved legislation making it easier for the EU to suspend visa-free travel for countries posing security risks or breaching human rights. Georgians have not required visas for European travel since 2017.

Under the leadership of Georgian Dream, the pro-Russian party that’s in power in Russia’s southern neighbor, the government has rejected previous plans for joining the EU and ignored an Aug. 31 EU deadline for protecting LGBTIQ people’s rights and repealing anti-democratic legislation if it seeks EU membership.

According to the Eurasia Daily Monitor, public opinion polls show that the population remains strongly pro-European, with higher enthusiasm among youth, while a majority holds Georgian Dream responsible for a potential suspension of visa-free European travel.

Pro-Russian groups allied with Georgian Dream are seeking a referendum on continuing to seek EU membership, the publication stated. They accuse the EU of spreading “LGBT propaganda” and seeking to erase Georgia’s national identity.

Below are edited excerpts from the Eurasia Daily Monitor‘s coverage of the issue:

Georgian Dream weaponizes LGBT-related conspiracy theories

By Beka Chedia

August 31 marked the European Union’s deadline for the ruling Georgian Dream party to restore democratic practices, repeal anti-democratic legislation adopted over the past year, and revise the National Human Rights Strategy and Action Plan to ensure the full protection of LGBTIQ people’s rights. This legislation includes the law “On the Transparency of Foreign Influence” and the package of bills “On Family Values and the Protection of Minors.”

In response to “serious democratic backsliding,” the European Commission is considering suspending the visa-free regime and is demanding that the Georgian authorities implement recommendations.

On August 13, the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on European Integration Levan Makhashvili stated, “If Brussels, instead of maintaining the visa-free regime, wants to promote LGBT propaganda and interfere in internal affairs, the public’s reaction will be unambiguous: blackmail and manipulation will not work in this matter.”

According to a public opinion poll conducted by CRRC-Georgia between August 8 and 12, the majority of the population—78 percent—believes that a possible suspension of the visa-free regime with the European Union would be harmful to the country’s citizens. If this actually happens, 51 percent of respondents would place the responsibility on the Georgian Dream party and its informal leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili, 13 percent would blame the European Union, and 5 percent would blame the opposition.

Within the established deadline of August 31, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs submitted a report to the European Commission on the alleged implementation of EU recommendations. The government, however, continues to take steps that contradict the very spirit of European integration. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze says the country is only following reasonable recommendations, but refuses to comply with “unreasonable demands” from the European Union. The government is misleading the public by portraying these requirements as if the European Union is demanding the legalization of same-sex marriage—even though the recommendations contain no mention of any such requirement.

Despite Georgian Dream imitating a desire for European integration, it has been comprehensively encouraging various conspiracy theories, including LGBT-related ones, against the European Union since 2024. Since traditional and conservative views prevail in Georgian society, party leaders believe that the theory of a global LGBT conspiracy could be effective in mobilizing society around the party in its confrontation with the European Union.

On September 4, Kobakhidze stated, “I promise that no one will be able to go to the civil registry and change their gender.”

On September 5, at a press conference, European Commission Spokesperson Markus Lammert, when asked whether the European Union was demanding that the country legalize same-sex marriage, called the claim a lie.

“The accusation that the European Union is punishing Georgia because of its traditional family values is simply not true. The protection, promotion, and observance of human rights lie at the core of the cooperation between Georgia and the European Union. These are values that both Georgia and the European Union share, and in this context, the EU supports democratic reforms and the protection of fundamental human rights for all—including protection from discrimination,” Lammert said.

The government is still forced to take into account the will of the people on European integration despite announcing in November 2024 that it would discontinue this process, allegedly until 2028. On August 12, a meeting of the government commission on EU integration was held, where members emphasized the government’s ambitious goal of preparing for EU membership by 2028. But with the help of its satellite organizations, it is trying to include the issue of a final refusal to join the European Union on the political agenda.

The day after the government commission’s meeting, the pro-Russian organization “United Neutral Georgia”—which enjoys the patronage of Georgian Dream—came forward with an initiative to hold a plebiscite on the advisability of accession to the European Union. The leaders of this organization posed the question, “Does the Georgian society want to become a member of the union in which the main demand is the legalization of same-sex marriage, promotion of LGBT propaganda, giving up sovereignty and erasing the identity of Georgia?”

In a widely circulated statement, the organization urges the government and Georgian Dream not to “pull the country toward a place where same-sex marriage, LGBT propaganda, gay parades, and pedophilia are considered the norm.”

Eurobarometer’s latest annual public opinion poll shows that the majority of Georgian citizens see their future in the European Union. According to the research, if a referendum were held today, 74 percent of the population would support joining the European Union. Furthermore, 80 percent believe that EU membership would bring more benefits than harm to the country. The European Union is reportedly the most trusted actor among the population of Georgia, with 67 percent of respondents expressing trust in it.

According to a survey conducted by CRRC-Georgia published in August, 78 percent of respondents support EU membership. Among young people ages 18-34, the rate of support for EU membership is even higher at 86 percent. The results of public opinion polls show that LGBT-related conspiracy theories, actively spread directly by the leaders of Georgian Dream and the government, do not bear tangible fruit for their initiators at this stage. Georgian Dream has not yet succeeded in turning the population hostile to the European Union.

Georgian Dream was particularly active in using LGBT-themed conspiracy theories during the October 2024 election campaign. In an interview in 2024, Ivanishvili claimed, “LGBT propaganda could influence a person’s sexual orientation” and called LGBT propaganda the “latest weapon of conquest.”

He also spread false information on this topic, claiming that in the United States, “in just seven years, the number of LGBT people has tripled due to propaganda.”

In 2024, Mamuka Mdinaradze, the then-leader of the parliamentary majority, who has headed Georgia’s Security Service since September 3, declared, “Today, pseudo-liberals in the world are campaigning against such terms as ‘mother’ and ‘father,’ ‘wife’ and ‘husband,’ etc. They require the introduction of the so-called gender-neutral terminology, for example, ‘parent 1’ and ‘parent 2,’ etc.” Mdinaradze scared the population by declaring that the West would soon demand that the government remove information about gender from passports.

The development of LGBT conspiracy theories has reached its peak in recent months. On August 12, Kobakhidze claimed that the whole of Europe is in a catastrophic situation. To confirm the authenticity of his conspiracy, he cited false data about how same-sex marriages among the new generation in the EU countries have already exceeded 20 percent. Ivanishvili’s closest associate and Georgian Dream’s ideologist, philosopher Zaza Shatirishvili, published an open letter on August 12 claiming “European unity, formed based on fundamental values, is collapsing, since the ideology based on Christian humanism has been replaced by an ideology based on LGBT propaganda,” and stating that  the European Union is creating preconditions for the legalization of same-sex marriages in Georgia.

Georgian Dream, similar to the Kremlin, positions itself as a defender of traditional lifestyles and family values in an attempt to win the support of a population to which it offers little beyond conspiracy theories. Party leaders frequently echo Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rhetoric on issues such as the supposed LGBT conspiracy, the alleged threat of same-sex marriage, and the need to protect “family values.” The use of LGBT conspiracy theories highlights the party’s close ties to the Kremlin, which has also actively used LGBT-related conspiracy theories in its anti-Western propaganda and promotes this practice across the entire post-Soviet space.