May 17 marks the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.

When, throughout years, the groups that set the mainstream agenda in Georgia, instrumentalize this day expansively and portray LGBTI community as a politically, socially, economically and culturally homogenous group, Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group, together with like-minded activists, creates critique and a space for an alternative discussion.

This time, we share with you what our positions are on the challenges to the LGBTI activism, diverging party agenda and co-optation of solidarity, reflecting on our experiences of the last year.

Alla Parunova [Equality Movement]

CHALLENGES TO THE QUEER ACTIVISM

„The queer movement is a leftist movement now and will be in the future, it will be a leftist movement and will pursue leftist politics. At the same time, we, queer people, will speak as queers. We will talk about our rights, we will talk about our loved ones, and we will talk about the challenges that we face in our daily lives.“

Beka Gabadadze [Temida]

DIVERGING PARTY AGENDA

“Comprehensive sex education is still impossible due to conservative attitudes and naturally this creates a lot of taboos in our society and makes the society more vulnerable to a number of issues.”

Natalia Mchedlishvili [WISG]

COOPTED SOLIDARITY | POLITICAL MANIPULATION

“…Refusing to participate in this mainstream agenda is a very legitimate and antagonistic act, as it exposes the practice of cooptation, that some people, actors in power, are constantly appropriating our solidarity and values that are important to us. They speak in our words and offer us policies, which are purportedly for our own good.”

SEE ALSO: LGBTQI Community Organisations' Joint May 17 Statement (in Georgian)