The following trends were observed in February:

• A number of homophobic statements were related to the draft law “On the Transparency of Foreign Influence,” submitted to the parliament of Georgia, which was presented as a mechanism to control those non-governmental organizations that are engaged in “LGBTQI propaganda.” Another part of such statements was related to Russian military intervention in Ukraine, promoting the opinion that since Ukraine allowed homosexuals in its armed forces, it had no chance to gain the upper hand over Russia.

• Xenophobic statements targeted Ukrainian refugees in Georgia, blaming them for taking the jobs away from Georgians and engaging in illegal activities.

• In some of the Turkophobic statements, the recent deadly earthquakes in Turkey were regarded as a punishment for its past historic deeds.

• Discriminatory statements against the Catholic Church accused the Catholic Church in Ukraine of promoting “Ukrainian Nazism” and LGBT propaganda; also, they condemned the Pope for heresy and an attempt to legalize same-sex marriage.

• In debates concerning the law on the transparency of foreign influence, sexist statements were made about women representatives of non-governmental organizations. 

• Anti-Western statements promoted the idea that funding from Western organizations served, on the one hand, LGBT propaganda and, on the other hand, the fight against the Church.

In February, homophobic statements were made with regard to three topics:

1. The draft law on the Transparency of Foreign Influence - submitted to the parliament by People’s Power, which was presented as a mechanism to control non-governmental organizations engaged in “LGBTQI propaganda.”

2. Military actions in Ukraine - conveying the idea that since Ukraine allowed homosexuals in the army, it had no chance to gain the upper hand over Russia. The Orthodox Russia, however, fought effectively against homosexuality.

3. Coverage of LGBTQI topic on TV channels that pursue pro-government editorial policy, including the screening of a film, “Comets,” produced by Tamar Shavgulidze, on the Georgia Public Broadcaster. 

The draft law on Transparency of Foreign Influence will prevent the operation of those organizations that are run by the West and propagate homosexuality

Spiridon Tskipurishvili, Clergyman: “Propaganda of any filth must be punishable; this law [on foreign country agents of influence] must be adopted. This money [the budget of the Public Broadcaster] is the money misspent. Do they finance the Public Broadcaster to have the future generation perverted?”

Otar Chitanava, Alliance of Patriots: “As I’ve said, they [non-governmental organizations] have already propagated LGBT, saying that it is a good thing and our future generations must be aware of that. This is the reality in which we are currently living… And it will be commendable if a mechanism [the law on the transparency of foreign influence] is created that will restrain the non-governmental organizations engaged in such ‘activity’.”

Levan Gabashvili, Journalist of Georgia and World: “Representatives of the Netherlands will no longer be able to rebuke us when it becomes officially known that many of the demonstrations in support of LGBT are financed from this very country, nor will Austria, Germany, France, Lithuania, or Poland do that… After all that has come to light officially, in documented form [owing to the law on the transparency of foreign influence], a question will necessarily arise: do we want such America and Europe? Do we want to embrace their values?”

Ukraine cannot win the war against Russia, because members of LGBT community serve in the Ukrainian army

Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, Host of Sezoni TV: “A gay couple that now serves in the Ukrainian army recounts that they worked in a theater but are soldiers now, fighting on the battlefield; they think that if Ukrainian people hear the story of such couples, this will inspire Ukrainian people to go to the front?!... Can the country in which a person, during the war, thinks about the adoption of a law legalizing same-sex marriage, have any prospects? Can people who attack the Church, which is under the control of the Russian Patriarchate, and drive out a clergyman by pulling him by his beard, wish that God were merciful to them?”

Orthodox Christian Russia fights against obscenity whereas Ukraine/the West propagates homosexuality

Guram Palavandishvili, Society for the Protection Children's Rights: “… They [Ukrainians] lack any dignity, they are a mob of homosexuals. There is not a single person in their parliament, broadcaster or any institution, who does not accept this obscenity; they are their direct agents and employ transgenders in their offices, Biden as well, in Europe too and boast about that; these are absolutely filthy people and directly serve the antichrist, that’s why they are against Russia, against Russia as the Orthodox Christian country stretched over a huge territory… They want Russia to be destroyed, inter alia, because it does not fit into that European antichrist model and moreover, during the war, it directly banned the right to propagate LGBT, whereas in Ukraine, on the contrary, it has been legalized and they hold gay prides and present that as if it is the battle between good and evil.”

Freedom of expression of the LGBT community must be prohibited by law

Irakli Martinenko, Conservative Movement: “For example, they, the Georgian Dream, or to be more precise, the group [People’s Power] that is the same as the Georgian Dream, makes statements that gay prides must be prohibited in Georgia, don’t they? Then, it must be prohibited by means of a law – why does the country not have the law prohibiting it?”

Propaganda of homosexuality on pro-government TV channels is unacceptable

Part of xenophobic statements blamed Ukrainian refugees in Georgia for taking the jobs of Georgians, being engaged in various illegal activities and illicit drug trade. The draft law on the Transparency of Foreign Influence, submitted by the People’s Power to the parliament, was portrayed as a tool to contain the Arab expansion; At the same time, an opinion was promoted that in contrast to other “tourists,” citizens of Russia who entered Georgia, have become objects of unfair persecution and monitoring.

The law on the Transparency of Foreign Influence will contain the Arab funding and expansion

Ukrainian refugees take jobs away from the local population, are engaged in illegal activities

Soso Shatberashvili, Leftists Alliance: “Numerous people arrived in Georgia in 2020, since the start of the war. Not all succeeded to get jobs; our people [Georgian citizens] cannot get jobs and how could we employ foreigners - those Russian and Ukrainians. Many started to earn on living by engaging in illicit drug trade…”

Irma Tskhorgauli, Alliance of Patriots: “The reality is that such arrests have, unfortunately, become a frequent event and let’s admit, according to the statistics, the names and surnames of foreign citizens have increased. This is the first factor and as we see, the number of those having arrived from abroad, and I want to emphasize, particularly from Ukraine, has increased because I hear increasingly more Ukrainian names and surnames, they say that they are citizens of Ukraine. In other words, citizens of Ukraine, Russia, Syria too, also citizens of Turkey are too many in Georgia; in short, such unchecked people have started flowing into the country… There are not jobs for them here; but they have already set up a sort of network and they join this network and it expands.”

In contrast to citizens of other countries, tourists arriving from Russia become objects of unfair persecution

Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, Host at Sezoni TV: “These TV channels propagating the United National Movement are now chasing after Russian tourists to find out about remittances flowing into the country and claiming that they must be stopped. The aim is to ban the entry of any tourist into Georgia save Turks and Azerbaijanis and representatives of Muslim countries! This country must be inundated by people with Hijabs alone and no step shall be taken towards settling relations with Russia and now, this wave is directed against Russian tourists again…”

Europe is a victim of its own liberal migration policy; similar state of affairs is unacceptable in Georgia

Giorgi Kardava, Conservative Movement: “By the way, the fate of Europe in this regard is not favorable either because the share of non-European population, especially among the youth, in Europe is extremely large and if this globalist, liberast Europe continues in the same way in the next 10, 15, 20 years, I do not know how, for example, France will manage to absorb that number of color-skinned people and Arabs, which France has now and will have in the future. I think that it will not be able to absorb them and why do we not want Europe? We do not want it because we do not want to see the same processes in Georgia. We do not want to see the Georgian nation disappearing in this globalist, liberast, multicultural environment.”

Some Turkophobic statements predicted that, as a result of the devastating earthquake in Turkey on 6 February, the Turkish influence in the region will weaken and its policy of expansion will be restrained. Asaval-Dasavali newspaper promoted the idea that the devastating earthquake was a punishment sent to Turkey for its policy of expansion pursued in the past.

Earthquake in Turkey is the punishment for its past history

Dito Chubinidze, journalist of Asaval-Dasavali: “That’s how the place of Orthodox Christian and highly cultured Byzantium was seized by the savage, uncultured, but combat-experienced Horde which eventually put the end to the Byzantine Empire and from which the modern Turkey emerged … Clearly, it is not our desire to speak derisively about despairing and devastated people, but we will not hide the truth that was sealed by the history of mankind and we will always say that the land which is now called ‘Turkey,’ in reality, belongs to someone else! And the land requires its due. This is what an ancient Georgian fairy tale tells us about, and the fairy tale is never wrong!”

Earthquake that happened in Turkey will weaken its influence in the region and slow down processes of its expansion

Giorgi Gachechiladze, journalist of Georgia and World: “Earthquakes that happened in Turkey question the project of Turkish geopolitical expansion… It is not only that the elimination of the consequences of the earthquakes will require more than a year, but also that these earthquakes have shown that focusing on Turkey as a major partner is extremely risky, and therefore, the main players in the region will take this into account and will try to diversify the risks.” 

Yuri Baranchik, specialist in modern Eurasian security policy and advanced technologies of political communications: “Earthquakes that have happened in Turkey threaten not only reelection of Erdogan in the presidential election scheduled for 14 May 2023, but, in general, question the project of Turkish geopolitical expansion which has been actively supported by Erdogan for many years.”

If Russia is an occupier, Turkey is an occupier too

Dito Chubinidze, journalist of Asaval-Dasavali: “As of today, Russia has 12.6 thousand square kilometers of the Georgian land occupied in the form of Abkhazia, the Tskhinvali region, and the Ksani Gorge, while Turkey has 24.8 thousand square kilometers of the Georgian land occupied, i.e., twice as many! After all, that stupid Georgians refer to Turkey as a “historical friend,” whereas they refer to Russia as an “enemy” and “occupier.”

Turkey expands into Adjara/wants to seize territories

Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi, Alliance of Patriots: “Do we want to have relations with Turkey? Yes, we do. All say that we are Turkophobes. No, we are not Turkophobes. We want to have relations with Turkey, but we do not want to cede Adjara to Turks. We do not want to have 40 thousand citizens of Turkey in Adjara and we do not want Turks to take over Adjara. We want Adjara to belong to Georgians and in that case, to have relations with Turkey.”

Discriminatory statements against the Catholic Church accused the Catholic Church in Ukraine of promoting “Ukrainian Nazism” and LGBT propaganda; also, they condemned the Pope for heresy and an attempt to legalize same-sex marriage. An antisemite statement made against Volodymyr Zelenskyy portrayed him as a person fighting against the Church and emphasized his religious belonging. Another statement contained a demand for the prohibition of the activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The Catholic Church is an institution engaged in heresy, defends LGBT rights, and is exposed to pedophilia

Giorgi Gachechiladze, journalist of Georgia and World: “It is worth noting that in the Ukrainian Catholic University the propaganda of Ukrainian Nazism is combined with the cult of sexual perversion. During lectures students watch the filthiest pornography in their gadgets. They go to classes inebriated and under the influence of drugs. The Ukrainian Catholic University is permeated with Sodom and Gomorrah. Pope Francis, however, has a benevolent attitude towards the rector of this educational institution, Borys Gudziak.”

Giorgi Razmadze, archpriest: “When that retarded [Gorgi] Margvelashvili brough Pope of Rome here and put the Patriarch in an awkward position… that is precisely the modern view, the tolerant view. Heretic must be called a heretic and look at the Pope of Rome, why they want to subordinate the Georgian Church to the Roman Church and to have the same situation here… have you ever seen the Pope of Rome preaching about a fast, prayer, ascetic life, soul?... They have him, this small fry, talk about stupid issues … that’s why he wears a cross in gay colors and openly legalizes same-sex marriage…"

Jehovah’s Witnesses must be prohibited to preach and operate

Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, Host of Sezoni TV: “I look around, walk in the street and see these pretty girls and boys rolling something along the street, putting it up and starting to propagate those Jehovah’s Witnesses. The sect of Jehovah’s Witnesses must be prohibited; they preach against blood transfusion when someone feels bad and needs it, they have no right to have blood transfusion… If a sect puts the life of people at risk, it must be prohibited, mustn’t it? If a sect tells a person not to have blood transfusion but die, can such a sect exist in the country?”

Islamophobia

Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, Host of Sezoni TV: “You know full well that the situation is very grave in this regard in Adjara, that Islamization is underway, i.e. the process of Turkizashion is in progress in Adjara; Georgian population decreases and the number of Turks increases. Georgian people are oppressed whereas Turks enjoy favorable conditions.”

Antisemitism

Guram Palavandishvili, Society for the Protection of Children's Rights: “It’s a great farce, a performance of musical comedy or opera, swindlers, bandits who actually threw Ukraine to the wolves. Before the conflict broke out, Crimea belonged to Ukraine, but they staged those revolutions, sent emissaries of the US embassy there - this is what they want to do here too – brought that man [Volodymyr Zelenskyy] to power, who is the enemy of the Church, he is a Judaist by his religion, enemy of morality, a clown, LGBT supporter, and put him to rule, with a nimbus of pink prospect of European future around his head…”

Statements containing sexist hate speech were directed against the legislation on prohibiting domestic violence; also, during the debates of  the law on the Transparency of Foreign Influence, sexists statements were made against women representatives of nongovernmental organizations. In some cases, women were ridiculed on the ground of mental abilities. 

Because of legislation on domestic violence, men are punished without reason

Shota Martinenko, Conservative Movement: “Let me say that I will change the laws which sends a very high percentage of people to jail on charges of domestic violence and no evidence is required at all to prove that. When I say that and have hope that I will gain political scores and my chances to win will increase, it means that quite a large number of people are incarcerated for that; it happens on a massive scale when someone loudly quarrels at home and the police sends him to the prison for the aim of prevention; in other words, a wife merely says that her husband behaves somewhat badly and the police arrests him based on just the wife’s words.”

Attack based on moral criteria

Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, Host of Sezoni TV: “The draft law on the Transparency of Foreign Influence actually exposed the agents! Look at Eka Gigauri and Nino Lomjaria, what they look like and what they do! Once Eka Gigauri and Nino Lomjaria stop receiving foreign funding they will go instantly to the Circus to stand there and switch from political prostitution to physical prostitution.”

Offense/ridicule on the ground of mental abilities

Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, Host of Sezoni TV: “This brainless woman [Salome Zourabichvili] has come out today, this witch, and said that she wanted to go [to Ukraine] but she had not received an invitation and accused the government of not going to Ukraine and criticized it for that, although the government had not received the invitation either; she is the number nine pheasant – this is a phrase denoting a base, ignorant person. I do not know what kind of woman she is; perhaps, she must end her activity in the madhouse, this woman must be nuts.”

Anti-Western statements promoted the idea that financing from western organizations serve, on the one hand, the LGBT propaganda and on the other hand, a fight against the Church. Part of statements portrayed the process of EU integration as a threat of losing national identity and normalizing unacceptable values.

The West imposes on us homosexuality, pedophilia

Otar Chitanava, Alliance of Patriots: “Much funding from the West comes with the directives to propagate LGBT, this perverted mode of life, in Georgia. Money is spent to attack the Patriarchate and paint the building of Patriarchate with colored paints, other government buildings too, and things like that and of course, this is unacceptable for us, for those who have common sense and want our country to advance and develop; we do not want the funding that comes from abroad to be spent on such things.”

Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, Host at Sezoni TV: "Today, the EU is fighting against our country and at the same time, we are aspiring to receive its candidate status. The candidate status has no practical value and the EU is telling us that if you want to become part of us, then you have to have [Mikheil] Saakashvili in power, accept sodomy, say no to everything national and only then you can be with us."

Father Spiridon, clergyman: “We follow the teaching and preaching of Paul the Apostle, openly exposing that the EU is the filth that introduces obscenity across the world.”

Giorgi Kardava, Conservative Movement: “I want to show you some very shocking footage of how all this, including pedophilia is legalized. How pedophilia becomes a norm in the United States and the West and is introduced as a norm in society…”