Orthodox Groups Mark ‘Family Purity Day’, Introduced by Church After 2013 IDAHOBIT Violence

Large crowds and ruling party officials have joined marches across the country on May 17 as the Georgian Orthodox Church celebrated “Day of Family Purity and Respect for Parents,” introduced in 2014, a year after May 17, 2013, clergy-led violence against a small rally marking International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) in Tbilisi.

This year, the newly enthroned Patriarch Shio III called on the faithful to join festive processions and led the liturgical service at Tbilisi’s Holy Trinity Cathedral. Officials from the ruling Georgian Dream party, which designated the day a public holiday as part of its 2024 anti-LGBT legislation, were in attendance. Tsotne Ivanishvili, the youngest son of Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, also took part in the procession in Tbilisi.

Shio III, who was elected as Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church on May 11 following the death of Ilia II, addressed crowds after their arrival at Tbilisi’s Holy Trinity Cathedral. He called for laws protecting families “from harmful gender ideologies,” warned of the risk of “other peoples” outnumbering Georgians, and spoke out against abortion, among other issues.

“If we do not work to strengthen, preserve, and save the family, we face a real danger that other peoples will establish themselves alongside us in our paradise-like and beautiful country, those who love children, who do not remove their children, and who protect their religion, and therefore successfully grow in number,” Shio III said, adding: “If we continue like this, the danger is real that they will outnumber Georgians.”

The Patriarch further said that Georgia should have legislation protecting families and people “from harmful gender theories and ideologies.” According to Shio III, “rather than rejecting such legislation, as some call on us to do, we should instead strengthen and reinforce this direction of protecting and preserving the family.”

Shio III also reiterated his anti-abortion stance, saying that “If a grave sin such as, for example, abortion is present within a family, then, of course, a family cannot build any kind of happiness on such a foundation, and such a family is doomed.” He noted that happiness is to be found in families where “a child is born once in every 2-3 years,” citing what he said was the experience of larger families that “it’s harder in the beginning, with up to the first three children,” but later on, “difficulties significantly decrease.”

Georgian Dream officials, including Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, and GD-elected President Mikheil Kavelashvili, also addressed the crowds during the festive service. The speeches focused on the importance of the family, and paid tribute to late Patriarch Ilia II while acknowledging the role of his successor, Shio III.

“With the Lord’s protection and the Patriarch’s spiritual guidance, we will firmly defend Christianity, Orthodoxy, and all those values that constitute the essence and substance of the Georgian nation,” Kobakhidze said.

Kavelashvili, on his part, said that like ancestors, “today we too firmly believe that a morally firm family is the foundation of a strong state.”

Queer Groups ‘Refuse to Fall Into Despair’

Family Purity Day was introduced on the initiative of the late Patriarch Ilia II in 2014, a year after the May 17, 2013, attacks on a small anti-homophobia rally in Tbilisi, led by Orthodox clergy. The designation of May 17 for the religious holiday is widely viewed as a deliberate attempt to counter and hijack IDAHOBIT.

No public queer events have been announced this year or in the past year to mark IDAHOBIT, following repeated anti-queer violence in Georgia, as well as the passage of anti-LGBT legislation in 2024, which effectively restricted gatherings associated with queer rights advocacy while also establishing Family Purity Day as a public holiday.

Georgian queer groups, however, made a statement to mark the day.

“The attack on the queer community on May 17, 2013, is a clear example that violence and oppression have always been the political will of the authorities. It was on our bodies that the authoritarianism was trained, which is now visible to the whole society,” Tbilisi Pride, Georgian LGBTQI+ group, said in a statement.

Pointing to intensifying “hatred, censorship, persecution” under the Georgian Dream rule in recent years, the group said that members of the LGBTQI+ community “refuse to fall into despair.”

“We hold on to one another. Sometimes survival itself is a form of resistance. Our resistance is not only a struggle for rights — it is also love, joy, and the desire for freedom,” Tbilisi Pride said.

Also Read:

• 26/06/2024 – Venice Commission Opinion Advises Against Adopting Anti-LGBTQ Laws
• 08/07/2023 – Police Stands by as Far-Right Groups Attack Tbilisi Pride Festival

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