Georgia’s president refuses to sign anti-LGBTQ bill

by | Oct 2, 2024 | World

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze accuses Salome Zourabichvili of choosing ‘pseudo-liberal propaganda’ instead of ‘family values’.Georgia’s president has earned scorn from the country’s prime minister after refusing to sign a controversial “anti-LGBTQ bill” into law.
President Salome Zourabichvili refused on Wednesday to sign off on the legislation, approved by parliament last month, which would ban gender transition, adoption by gay and transgender people, and nullify same-sex marriages performed abroad.
The move against the so-called family values bill, which was pushed through by the governing Georgian Dream party, comes about three weeks before crucial parliamentary elections on October 26.
“President Zourabichvili refused to sign the bill and returned to parliament without vetoing it,” presidency spokeswoman Marika Bochoidze told the AFP news agency.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze reacted angrily, accusing the liberal head of state of failing families and minors, according to Georgian media.
“The fact that Salome Zourabichvili did not stand on the side of protecting traditional and family values, not on the side of protecting the interests of minors, but on the side of pseudo-liberal propaganda, once again shows what political choice this person made and what forces [she] is governed by,” he said.
Despite Zourabichvili’s opposition, the bill is set to take effect, with the parliament speaker able to sign off on it instead of the president within five days.
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