Similar legislation to Georgia’s Family Values and Minor Protection Law is planned for adoption in the United States, and global approaches will shift somewhat, stated Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze during his appearance on GPB First Channel’s program Actual Topic with Maka Tsintsadze.

According to the head of government, approaches in the United States will definitively change, consequently, no one from America will demand the repeal of this law anymore.

“I believe these approaches will similarly be reflected in European policies, as they also plan to adopt the same legislation. We remain open to this discussion today. If someone can prove that any point contradicts legal principles or fundamental values, then okay. Let them first prove that it’s wrong to say a man is a man or a woman is a woman. They talked about censorship. It’s elementary that intimate scenes between two men shouldn’t be in films or broadcast on public television. But no, they say you can’t prohibit this as it’s censorship. They suggest it’s perfectly acceptable for public or private television to air films containing same-sex intimate scenes. We’re talking about simple truths here. When they tell us in the name of the European Union that everything we’re doing is disastrous, and what should be banned – meaning LGBT propaganda – is beneficial, this is shocking to me.

This law absolutely does not restrict human rights. Human rights are protected at the highest level in our country, regardless of one’s lifestyle. Everyone has their choice, their way of life, and the state cannot interfere with this, and cannot judge or condemn people for having this or that lifestyle. This is not our business at all. The only thing this law restricts is propaganda. We don’t touch anyone, we can’t touch or judge anyone – moral judgment is not the state’s business. The only thing the state does is punish in cases of crime, but the moral judgment of people is not the state’s role. Consequently, this is neither the purpose of this law nor is it written in the law. The only thing this law restricts is the crude propaganda that has led to severe consequences in various European countries.

There are concerning statistics in the United States. Traditionally, if LGBT individuals made up 2-3% – not just those who publicly declared, but LGBT individuals identified through research – today in these countries, among 18-25-year-olds, the statistics already amount to approximately 20%. For 26-32 year-olds, the statistics show 7%. Imagine that due to propaganda, the number of LGBT individuals in these societies has tripled within a seven-year interval. We don’t want to allow this for various, including pragmatic, reasons. We already have demographic problems, and we don’t want to further aggravate our situation in this regard,” stated the Prime Minister.

Irakli Kobakhidze also discussed the Transparency Law.

“People are telling us simple truths about what’s wrong. They’re saying that NGO opacity is preferable to NGO transparency. To reduce what they call the Russian law to one message – it’s that NGO opacity is better than NGO transparency, and how can they be saying this from Europe or America?! Let’s set aside the fact that such laws exist in many countries, in the United States and European countries, Canada, Australia, and so on. It all comes down to a simple message that NGO opacity is preferable to NGO transparency. How can a European or American be telling you this?! I’m convinced that after the recent changes in the United States, first and foremost, these approaches will change, and no one will criticize the Georgian government anymore for this simple truth,” the Prime Minister declared.