Georgian parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili on October 3 signed into law a bill that rights groups, the opposition, and the international community say drastically curbs the rights of the country's LGBT community.
Papuashvili, of the ruling Georgian Dream party and a co-sponsor of the bill, endorsed the bill after President Salome Zurabishvili on October 2 refused to sign it and returned it to parliament, in accordance to the provisions of the Georgian Constitution.
The so-called "family values" bill was pushed through parliament by Georgian Dream on September 17 in an 84-0 vote, which was boycotted by the opposition while rallies were being held by protesters outside the parliament building.
While legal under the constitution, Papuashvili's move highlights the dramatically polarized political landscape in the South Caucasus country, with Georgian Dream at odds with both Zurabishvili and the political opposition, which has been boycotting parliament for months ahead of elections scheduled next month.
After Papuashivili's endorsement, the law is to be published in Georgia's Legislative Gazette and will come into force on the 60th day after its publication.
The package of legal changes, whose complete title is On Family Values And Protection Of Minors, brings changes to 18 current laws, including legislation on free speech and expression as well as broadcasting.
The measures provide for the banning of gatherings that promote the right of a person to identify as a gender other than "his or her biological sex" and they also prohibit gatherings advocating for same-sex orientation or relationships.
As he signed the bill, Papuashvili took a swipe at both Zurabishvili and the opposition for refusing to back it.
"It is symbolic that the leader of the devalued opposition who has become a popular president refuses to sign the law that protects what's most valuable for a person -- family and children," Papuashvili said.
Papuashvili, whose party remains the most popular, according to opinion polls ahead of crucial October 26 elections, also dismissed in advance the expected Western criticism of his move.
"I understand very well that the signing of this law will cause criticism from some foreign partners, but we Georgians have never been afraid of others' judgment when our faith, common sense, and loyalty to the country required us to do so and when we saw that the currents of civilization were going in the wrong direction," he said.
The opposition has boycotted parliamentary sessions since May, when Georgian Dream lawmakers approved a "foreign influence" bill, which Western governments and many Georgians liken to Russia's "foreign agent" law used by the Kremlin to clamp down on dissent with broad discretion.
The law requires organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as "agents of foreign influence."
Zurabishvili vetoed that bill, but the ruling party overrode her opposition and promulgated it despite months of public protests and warnings from the United States and the European Union that the measure was eroding Georgia's democracy and its path to integration into Western institutions.
In response, Washington on September 16 introduced sanctions on more than 60 Georgians, including two members of the government, who it said had "undermined" democracy and human rights in the country, prompting Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze to warn that Tbilisi might revise its ties with the United States.
The European Union, meanwhile, reacted to the bill by pausing EU accession negotiations.
Georgian Dream, founded by Russian-friendly Georgian tycoon and ex-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is the party's top candidate for the upcoming elections, has insisted it remains committed to joining Western institutions.
Georgia's civil society has for years sought to move the country away from the influence of Russia, which still maintains thousands of troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two breakaway Georgian regions that Moscow recognized as independent states following a five-day war with Tbilisi in 2008.