Month: March 2024

The Telegraph:  Russia claimed on Thursday that a number of Ukrainian commandos had been killed in a failed special forces raid into occupied territory.

“Russian forces… destroyed a Ukrainian commando group…. trying to land on speedboats,” Moscow’s defence ministry said. “Up to 25” Ukrainian personnel were killed, it added.

…

Reuters:  India gave the go-ahead to construction of three semiconductor plants worth 1.26 trillion rupees ($15.2 billion) by firms including Tata Group and CG Power on Thursday, as the country pursues its goal of becoming an electronics powerhouse.

India, which is seeking to rival countries such as Taiwan in…

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Anti-LGBT law in Georgia

The ruling party in Georgia has initiated a new law, which, according to the party’s executive secretary Mamuka Mdinaradze, aims to “protect society from pseudo-liberal ideology and its inevitable harmful consequences.” In simpler terms, the ruling party “Georgian Dream” wants to pass a law against the so-called “LGBT propaganda.”

A similar law was adopted in Russia in 2022.

“Pseudo-liberal ideology”

The bill will be introduced in parliament within the next two weeks.

“Georgian society has always been tolerant, but it cannot be tolerant towards pseudo-liberal propaganda. We are witnessing serious trends in the spread of pseudo-liberal ideology worldwide. This propaganda is becoming increasingly aggressive. Most importantly, the propaganda has serious consequences,” states Mamuka Mdinaradze.

According to him, the need for the new law is also supported by international research:

“International studies confirm that in a number of countries where pseudo-liberal ideology is particularly rampant, the percentage of people with non-traditional sexual orientations among those aged 18-25 already amounts to about 20%, and in some places even more. It is alarming that over seven years, this figure has tripled, and the increase coincides with the period when this propaganda became particularly active.”

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• Why haven’t the organizers of the assault on journalists in Tbilisi on July 5, 2021, been punished?
• The history of Georgia’s LGBT+ community’s struggle for equal rights and non-discrimination
• “Why is your jacket unbuttoned?” – Homophobic attack in Tbilisi

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Mdinaradze reminded that in 2017, the Georgian parliament prevented the legalization of same-sex marriages and explicitly defined in the constitution that marriage is a union between a man and a woman with the purpose of creating a family. However, he fears that Georgia might be “asked” to adopt a law on “civil partnerships.”

Mdinaradze also says that “pseudo-liberals” in Georgia try every year to “impose” the “Pride Parade” (gay parade) on society, while sociological research proves that more than 90% of the country’s population perceives this as propaganda. According to Mdinaradze, “such aggressive propaganda, on the contrary, negatively affects the protection of rights of people of different sexual orientations.

Overall, Mdinaradze believes that “all this propaganda has nothing to do with the protection of human rights; its goal is the popularization of a non-traditional way of life.”

Based on all this, “Georgian Dream” decided to prepare a legislative initiative that will “protect society from pseudo-liberal ideology and its inevitable harmful consequences.”

This is not the first attempt to initiate a law against LGBT propaganda in Georgia. In May 2023, the pro-Russian homophobic party “Conservative Movement” together with the ultra-right broadcasting company “Alt-Info” prepared a package of bills of similar content.