Georgia’s “Family Values” Bill Silences Media Coverage of LGBTQ+ Issues

September 30, 2024 – Europe – 

Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party passed a sweeping legislative package titled “On Family Values and Protection of Minors”, adopting the bill through its third and final reading by a vote of 84–0. This package amends 18 existing laws—including the Freedom of Speech Act and broadcasting regulations—and explicitly bans media outlets from covering LGBTQ+ content. Under Article 8, broadcasters are prohibited from promoting “identification with a gender other than one’s biological sex or relationships between individuals of the same biological sex based on sexual orientation.” Violators face fines of 1,000 GEL (~€350) for individuals and 3,000 GEL (~€1,050) for media entities, along with confiscation of offending materials.

Media freedom advocates have condemned the law as a grave assault on press freedom and an alarming step toward censorship. The International Press Institute (IPI), one of the dozens of signatories—including the ECPMF, EFJ, ARTICLE 19, and Free Press Unlimited—called it an “extreme attack” on freedom of expression, warning it would dramatically chill coverage of LGBTQ+ lives and rights. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), along with 22 other organizations, joined the outcry, emphasizing that the measure amounts to state-sanctioned suppression of independent reporting.

Beyond media restrictions, the law also bans same-sex marriage, gender-affirming surgeries, adoption by LGBTQ+ individuals, displays of the rainbow flag, pubic gatherings, and school-based education deemed “LGBT propaganda”. Human rights organizations, including Civil Rights Defenders and the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, have labeled the law discriminatory, reaffirming its incompatibility with European and international human rights obligations.

Critics fear this measure is part of a growing authoritarian trend in Georgia, coinciding with other restrictive laws, such as the “foreign agents” bill and tightened foreign funding regulations for media and NGOs. These developments threaten to shutter critical news outlets, drive journalists toward self-censorship, and shrink democratic space ahead of pivotal parliamentary elections in October

Reference – 

https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Georgia_-Family-Values-Bill-Imposes-censorship-on-media-2.pdf

Georgia: Family Values Bill imposes censorship on media – ipi.media