Ruling party official says protection of rights and “propaganda” should be “distinguished from each other”

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party in the Parliament, on Friday highlighted the ruling party’s “principled position” of “protecting future generations from harmful effects” he said came from “LGBT propaganda and not protection of rights”.

Mdinaradze said protection of rights and “propaganda” should be distinguished from each other.

At yesterday's meeting of the parliamentary majority, we took this decision [on the bill] after a lengthy discussion, because the challenges are more intense than last year, and every year these challenges increase”, he claimed. 

“That is why we made the decision at the right time to work on a bill that would provide protection from this pseudo-liberal propaganda on the one hand and, on the other hand, not undermine human rights but strengthen the protection of the rights”, the lawmaker added.

Mdinaradze also cited “increasing challenges”, such as “efforts in other countries to introduce reservations against terms like ‘mother’ and ‘father’” as factors that had contributed to the ruling party’s decision on the legislative piece.