VISION

SOUND

DATELINE BUMPER

PTT

Georgia landscapes

Russian invasion of Ukraine vision

File footage from Russia of police arresting LGBT demonstrators

VO: Georgia... at the intersection of Europe and Asia

Home to a culture almost as old as the mountains that define these lands

UPSOT: LGBT protestors in Russia

But Putin's homophobic crackdown on queer rights...

UPSOT: Ukraine war

And his call-up for the Ukrainian frontline...

Have motivated over a million Russians to flee to Georgia

But Georgia has its own troubles

PRIEST SOT: You’re obligated to be violent. For your homeland. For your country.

GIORGI SOT: The mob who attacked us was quite huge. It was like tens of thousands of people.

And is Georgia's rainbow community safe?

LANA SOT: When you are queer, you are scared. First of all, you are scared in this country.

FILM TITLE: Being Queer in Putin’s Shadow

Evan Williams, Colin Cosier, Micah McGown

LOCATION TITLE: Tbilisi

DAY – TBILISI STREETS – EXT

Nat Laykh shows Evan anti-Russian messages graffitied on walls

NAT: There it says Slavo Ukraini. And fuck Russia. So, it's a summary of the right side of history.

Nat and Evan

SUPER: Evan Williams, reporter

VO: Nat is Russian

They fled from Saint Petersburg last year and now calls Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, home

At least for now

Nat and Evan

EVAN: Here you’ve got another

NAT: Fuck Putin and a dick drawing. Oh, queer <laughs>

EVAN: Queer. Is it pro or anti? I can't quite work that out.

NAT: I feel like it's more of a pro, you know, purple is kind of queer color.

EVAN: It's sort of nice.

NAT: Yeah. You are not welcome...

Nat and Evan

VO: Nat is one of over a million Russians to have fled into Georgia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Nat and Evan

EVAN: here's another one. What's this one say?

NAT: Russians go home again. Yeah. Oh, and there is actually an answer, which is noad. It's like, okay, then

EVAN: when you see that, does that make you feel like you should go back to Russia?

NAT: Uh, it makes me question whether I should stay here, but it doesn't make me question whether I should go back to Russia. This is a decided question for me. I am not going back. Uh, if, you know, nothing changes radically

EVAN: Why wouldn't you go, why can't you go home now?

NAT: Well, uh, first basic reason is because it's just simply unsafe there.

Nat and Evan

VO: Nat is a queer non-binary trans person

And in Putin’s Russia, where so-called “traditional family values” are a pillar of his regime, Nat doesn't feel welcome

Despite the graffiti, the locals here in Tbilisi are mostly welcoming of Russians – But with some conditions

Nat and Evan enter a restaurant

NAT: These are the rules for entering the restaurant. And this are mainly about, uh, disapproving of the war and the occupation, uh, that is held by Russia, both in Ukraine and in Georgia.

EVAN: And how do you feel when, as a Russian, when you read something like that just at a, at a restaurant?

NAT: Uh, I mean, I do agree to all of this. So, and I suppose, you know, I support this statement by entering the country, all in all.

Being persecuted over nationality is relatively new for Nat, but being persecuted for sexuality is unfortunately not

Nat interview

SUPER: Nat Lyakh

EVAN: your experience in Russia as a queer person, and for other LGBTQ people in Russia. What's going on? What's it like in there at the moment?

NAT: It's never been easy and it's getting progressively worse, uh, rapidly worse. People can get beaten up for even looking queer. Not exactly openly identifying as queer.

NAT: Um, but even in my progressive and liberal communities, of course, uh, I face a lot of misunderstanding, homophobia, transphobia, and some times it even comes from unexpected places. Like wouldn't expect it from my family at some point, for example, but this is what happened to me.

EVAN: How did they feel about you leaving Russia

NAT: Uh, about this, they were supportive. My dad more than my mom. He thought that the destiny for me is to leave anyways. It was even before the war. Okay. It was just generally connected with his idea that Russia is not the country for success. Russia is not the country for a good life if a person, you know, wants any degree of freedom.

File footage

VO: For much of Vladimir Putin’s reign, he’s often blamed the West for corrupting his country’s morals

SUPER: Vladimir Putin, Russian President

PUTIN SOT: Look at what they do with their own people, the destruction of the notion of family, cultural and national identity. Perversion, child abuse, even paedophilia, are declared normal, normal in their way of life.

File footage

Just last year, the Kremlin expanded a law that cracks down even further on LGBTIQ+ rights

The so-called “gay propaganda” law not only bans promotinghomosexuality, but also anything that – in their words – normalisesit.

Nat interview

EVAN: So that basically bans being queer?

NAT: Yes. Kind of. So, I mean, uh, it's a game of chance, uh, if you are deciding to still keep living openly, it's just a matter of time and luck if they come for you personally.

Worryingly for Georgia, there’s been talk from hardline pro-Russian political figures of introducing a similar gay propaganda law...

GFX Map

VO: Geographically, Georgia lies between the East and the West

Politically, it straddles the same divide... between European freedoms and authoritarian Russia

GFX Map with embedded file footage

Before Russia’s war against Ukraine, it invaded Georgia in 2008

While it’s a frozen conflict today, Russia still occupies about 20 per cent of the country

And before that, Georgia endured almost two hundred years of Imperial Russian, then Soviet Union occupation

Georgia pictures

Georgia gained independence as the USSR crumbled, and today it's a young democracy with European Union aspirations

And although Georgia has opened its borders to LGBT refugees - it wasn’t long ago that Georgia was reported to be one of the world’s most homophobic countries

DAY – MARKET – EXT

Dadu and Lana shop at a food market

Dadu is 45 years old and grew up when Georgia was part of the Soviet Union

DADU SOT: Let’s try it.

Thank you.

Yeah, I will take one half. It’s really good.

Being gay in the USSR was not easy

Her 19-year-old daughter, Lana, is also queer

LANA AND DADU:

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you.

Evan, Dadu and Lana talk at a picnic

Evan: What's it like? What's it like as a queer person in Georgia for you to live? What's the hardest part of the...

Dadu: It's very, very difficult

Dadu: The most biggest problem for us, for people lives in Georgia and for us, queer people that our government, they are not doing anything at all.

Evan: Right.

Dadu: They are not protecting us. They're not doing really anything.

Evan: Would you like to see them do?

Dadu: For example, to have some strong law for us in law, there are kind of one sentence about... How do you say anti-discrimination in English?

Evan: Anti-discrimination

Dadu: But it doesn't work at all.

Evan: What sort of problems do people face? What have you experienced yourself maybe, first of all?

Dadu: I don't have some kind of special experience. But why? Because I'm hiding.

Dadu: because I can't tell anyone that I'm queer person.

Lana: When you are queer, you are scared. First of all, you are scared in this country.

Dadu: And when you are scared for years and years and years. She's young.

Lana: It's tiring.

Dadu: I'm not young.

Lana: It's really tiring.

Dadu: I grew up in Soviet Union.

CREDIT: Konstantin Stalinsky

VO: They have good reason to be scared

In 2013, asmall group of queer activists – seen here hiding in this yellow bus – tried to hold the country’s first demonstration for International Day Against Homophobia

They were violently attacked by a mob estimated in the tens of thousands... including members of the Orthodox Church

CREDIT: RFE/RL Georgian Service

- must display for at least 5 seconds

And just two years ago in 2021, a planned Pride event was cancelled over safety concerns.

Still, a mob stormed the offices of the Tbilisi Pride organisers and beat up journalists – one who later died

The attackers were from a right-wing group with reported links to Russia

CREDIT: TV Pirveli

This clip, filmed by local television, shows the mob was egged on by members of the Georgian Orthodox Church:

PRIEST: forget about no-violence. You’re obliged to be violent. For your home land. For your country.

And just last month a pride event was mobbed

It happened right here at this park

Evan, Dadu and Lana talk at a picnic

Lana: Georgian people have this kind of thing that if you stay quiet, we stay quiet. If you don't say anything...

Dadu: You can do everything at your home.

Evan: I mean this idea that you can just live your life at home, don't bring it on the streets. What's the word they use? The propaganda. Don't try and convince other people. Is that important to you? Does it matter?

Dadu: It's important.

Evan0 Would you like to be having demonstrations?

Lana: It is.

Dadu: It's important for me because I have right to exist. I have my own right to exist

Lana: You should not tell me that if I wear some rainbow thing, it is propaganda. It's not. It's my choice. I can wear whatever I want.

Dadu: "Don't wear this." Or something.

Lana: And they are telling that, "Oh, you are giving our children some bad habits, and you are showing my children something bad." I'm not doing anything by existing. You exist. Everyone else exists. So why can't I?

Evan, Dadu and Lana talk at the picnic

Evan: And do you think these sentiments, this idea, is homegrown in Georgia? Or is it being encouraged by Putin and the Kremlin's expansion? Russian ideas?

Dadu: No, not Putin. No, it comes from long, long years ago.

Evan: Yes.

Dadu: Putin was kid maybe when it was here already in Georgia.

DAY – CHURCH – EXT

VO: Georgian life and politics is dominated by religion

VO: Over 80 per cent of people here follow the Georgian Orthodox Church, though only about a quarter are said to actively participate

In Russia, Putin has aligned his rule and values to those of the church

Georgia’s government seems to be doing the same

And those conservative values that focus on God, family, and traditional gender roles - run deep – especially amongst the older, male population

DAY – RESTAURANT – INT

Evan attends a traditional Georgian feast with a room of men

UPSOT: singing

SUPER: Giorgi “Gia” Korkotashvili

GIA: Thank you for coming. Cheers to you. We will introduce to you our traditions better, what we love and what we actually live by.

Georgian feast with Gia

Gia is a singer, a poet and a regular in media debates about traditional values, where he’s well known for his anti-LGBT views

Georgian feast with Gia

GIA: I've always been against them. I was part of the movement to tell them "Don't promote it." It's propaganda. when they go out on the streets. When boys kiss outside the school, when women dress inappropriately, to me, it's propaganda. I tell them "At your home, or in a closed system, do what you like. We say "Stop the propaganda and advertisements. "Do not poison our children.

EVAN: when some church people say you must use violent force to stop Pride Marches, do you agree with that? And why?

GIA: If, in such a case, the government doesn’t intervene and stop it with the police force, the people are ready to take action, because for them this is immoral behaviour.

Georgian feast with Gia

In July, the Georgian Orthodox Church was the latest voice to call for the adoption of Russian-style gay propaganda laws

Georgian feast with Gia

EVAN: Do you think the talk of having anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda laws in Georgia, is it an influence from Russian-Putin’s values?

GIA: No, what happens in Russia is a matter for the Russians. Russia and Georgia are both Orthodox, but it is immoral. It doesn’t matter who practises immorality.

Georgian feast with Gia

VO: they say Georgia is not influenced by Russia, but could their homophobic views influence Georgia’s desire to join the EU – where sexual freedoms and rights are protected?

Georgian feast with Gia

VOICES IN THE BACKGROUND: On what topic should we say yes or no?

GIA: To change. LGBT rights. Will you accept LGBT rights in exchange for EU membership?

VOICES IN THE BACKGROUND: No, no.

GIA: No, we won't accept that! Europe is creeping up on us, as an Orthodox country.

No way! No way!

Gia

GIA: Cheers to all good, real and brave men in Australia and in Georgia.

EXPLAINER: foreign agents bill

There’s a palpable tension over Georgia moving West with Europe, or East with Russia

And gay rights are just one of the battlelines

The governing Georgian Dream party has applied to join the EU, but it's also accused of sabotaging its own application.

Earlier this year, they tabled a so-called foreign agents’ bill.

With the aim of controlling civil society, it was seen as a carbon copy of the same law in Russia

The bill was met with fierce resistance on Tbilisi’s streets... and promptly shelved, for now

UPSOT: protests

But it raises the question: how much is Georgia following Russia's lead?

UPSOT: Ev and Giorgi introductions

DAY – KLARA BAR - INT

Giorgi Kikonishvili is a gay activist, and the co-founder of one of Tbilisi’s few queer bars

SUPER: Giorgi Kikonishvili

Evan: Why do you think they try, they are trying to bring in these Putin authoritarian rules?

Giorgi: I think that this, foreign agents law, this anti LGBT propaganda law, and all these steps, sometimes I really think that are done with the aim to sabotage the Georgia's EU aspirations, and the EU candidates status of Georgia, but sometimes then I think that maybe they're just threatened by Russia

Klara Bar

While only Georgia's ruling party knows why it’s toying with these Russian-style laws, critics like Giorgi say it has to do with the party’s business interests with Russia.

Keeping the EU at arm’s length could help protect those interests

Giorgi Kikonishvili interview

Giorgi: So that's why I think that this Russian-type authoritarianism they start with limiting the sexuality and especially the LGBTQI people

Giorgi: but I think that they will fail.

He says they'll fail, because Georgia is changing

Evan: It's been reported sometimes that Georgia is one of the most homophobic countries in the world. Is that true?

Giorgi: I don't think so. It used to be very homophobic like years and decades ago. I think that one of the reasons why Georgia has such a label is because of the attacks which happened during the international day against homophobia

Evan: In 2013?

Giorgi: In 2013, yes, and yes, of course there remains as one of the most traumatic days in our lives because we were attacked by this mob

Giorgi: but this day also marked a very huge turning point for Georgia and Georgia Society general and for us as well, because we all realized that we were facing a very huge problem which was implemented there artificially with Russia by the Russian propaganda, through the Georgian Orthodox church.

Evan: I see. From Russia? You think it's...

Giorgi: Yes, yes.

Evan: The idea originated in Russia.

Giorgi: Yeah. I mean all the hate groups, the far-right groups, they're directly and indirectly financed and led by the Russia

Evan: So, is it going to be possible for you to have a pride march in Tbilisi?

Giorgi: Yes, it's absolutely going to be possible. But the problem is that the current government just don't want it to happen. They are playing this double game as if being a pro-western pro EU, extra, extra, but in fact what they play right now is clearly a Russian game.

GVs Georgian people

VO: Georgia’s fledgling democracy has tasted freedom

But with Russia still a threat, and the government seemingly sliding towards Moscow’s orbit, Georgia's future hangs on the precipice.

Dadu and Lana interview

Evan: There's been talk about the LGBT propaganda law. What would you do if they did bring a law in like that? If they did ban what they call, 'LGBT propaganda'? Would you stay in the country?

Lana: Well, I myself am queer. And my mum she has this plan to just go to Europe. And well, she wants me to go there, too. But it's I don't want to.

Dadu: To, I asked her much times, "Let's go. Let's go."

Lana: I don't want to go there because, first of all, I see some kind of future, my future here.

Lana: But if that kind of thing happened, I would definitely had to leave this country because I don't want to live in danger. I am tired of living in danger, to be honest.

Nat interview

NAT: for a big part of my life, I felt out of place, not only as a queer person, but just maybe as a Russian citizen who's uncomfortable in their country,

NAT: but you have this thought that maybe there is, the world is so big. Maybe there is still some place where I belong. And I feel like what happened with the war and with the immigration that I am facing is that I have to cope with the thought that maybe nothing is going to feel like home. Ever.

NAT: I think this is what was robbed from us all

CREDITS

Reporter

Evan Williams

Producer / Camera

Colin Cosier

Editor

Micah McGown

Associate Producer

Carolyn Cage

Fixer

Dima Bit-Suleiman

Translations

Masho Lomashvili

Graphics

Caroline Huang

Thanks to

Konstantin Stalinsky in Tbilisi, Georgia

SBS News Library

Production Co-ordinator

Bronte Baskin

Gabrielle Katanasho

Production Manager

Kayla Kingsland

Series Producer

Agnes Teek

Executive Producer

Georgina Davies