Vato Shakarishvili, an independent member of the Tbilisi City Assembly (Sakrebulo), initiated collecting thousands of signatures throughout Georgia with the purpose to hold a plebiscite on the prohibition of LGBT propaganda among juveniles in public spaces and media and on the regulation of slander by the law.

On June 12, Shakarishvili stated at the founding meeting of a new public movement Georgia First, “Perhaps you never thought that you would have to defend the truth that there are two genders, that mother is a mother, and father is a father, and so on. That may have seemed unbelievable years ago, but it is now a sad truth and a genuine risk.”

According to him, “McDonald’s Case” was yet an example that served as the confirmation of a “real threat.”

“This is not a one-off instance. There is a really serious effort going on, the push to somehow reach the children, to shatter their mentality, to impact our children, while also destroying and undermining all the supports that actually defend the child from this toxic ideology. This is Christian morality, a solid family, and faith. All of this is happening in a complex way, and it may have a detrimental effect on us, our future generations, and our children. That is why we propose launching a global campaign culminating in a plebiscite to prohibit LGBT propaganda among minors once and for all in this country,” he said.

Also, according to Vato Shakarashvili, second, the issue of defamation and insult should be subject to the law.

These are the two issues to be put to a plebiscite, and he believes Georgians will respond appropriately.

After some Georgian media reported about a book about the British musician Elton John, his marriage to David Furnish, and their children that were discovered in the children’s Happy Meal set, some parliamentary majority members accused McDonald’s of LGBT propaganda.