Georgian Parliament Speaker compares EU gender policy stance to “flat earth” persecution

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has harshly criticized the European Union’s recent recommendations, comparing them to medieval dogma and accusing Brussels of pushing a “false ideology” that threatens Georgia’s values, identity, and sovereignty.

“In Europe, there was a time when people who claimed the Earth wasn’t flat were burned at the stake. Today, Brussels is acting the same way - demanding that we say a man can become a woman. That’s the modern equivalent of forcing us to say the Earth is flat”, the Speaker said.

Referring to one of the EU’s recommendations to repeal Georgia’s Law on the Protection of Family Values and Minors, the Speaker noted the core of the law was about affirming biological reality - “that a man cannot become a woman, and a woman cannot become a man.”

He further claimed the EU was pressuring Georgia to embrace what he called a “false and dangerous ideology”, which, if resisted, led to threats of political and financial punishment.

“If we don’t accept this narrative, they promise to burn us at the stake of their ideological orthodoxy. Just like in the past, those who reject the dominant lie - today about gender - are treated as heretics”, he continued.

Papuashvili further criticised Brussels for allegedly seeking to repeal laws that blocked the spread of such ideologies in schools and universities and claimed the EU was attempting to hide how its funding was being used in Georgia.

“The second demand from Brussels concerns the transparency law. We now have confirmed evidence, including from the current US administration, that foreign funding has been used to promote false ideologies, destabilise democracies, and finance regime-change operations across the globe. European money has played a role in this too - funding extremism, radicalism, political parties, and partisan media in Georgia”, he pointed out.

Papuashvili further highlighted that the EU’s real concern was that the Georgian public “might finally see” where EU money was going.

“They don’t want us to know how their funds are spent. But with this new transparency legislation, the people will know”, he concluded.
The European Commission on Monday sent a letter to Georgia’s Foreign Minister, listing eight recommendations the country must meet to avoid jeopardising its visa-free travel status with the EU.

Among those, Brussels urges the repeal of the family values and minors protection law and calls for full protection of LGBTIQ rights.