Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell on Wednesday, September 18, urged Georgia to withdraw a "family values" bill denounced as curbing LGBTQ+ rights, warning that it further harmed the country's chances of joining the bloc. The law adopted by Georgia's parliament would increase "discrimination" and "stigmatization", the European Union's foreign policy chief posted on X. "I call on Georgia to withdraw this legislation, further derailing the country from its EU path," Borrell wrote. The EU has already warned Georgia's government that its membership bid has been "de facto halted" as it advances a string of measures that run counter to European values.

Tuesday's passage of the contested "family values" bill follows the adoption of an anti-NGO "foreign influence" law, which triggered mass anti-government protests and a subsequent crackdown. In a vote boycotted by the opposition, lawmakers from the governing Georgian Dream party voted 84 to 0 to approve the bill, which has to be signed by pro-Western President Salome Zurabishvili, or – if she refuses – by the parliament's speaker.

The bill mirrors similar legislation used in Russia to curb LGBTQ rights and "concerns restricting, in educational institutions and TV broadcasts, the propaganda of same-sex relationships and incest." Rights groups have criticized the wording for putting homosexual relations on a par with incest. It also bans gender transition and adoption by gay and transgender people and nullifies same-sex marriages performed abroad on Georgian territory.

Having initially pursued a liberal, pro-Western policy agenda when it came to power in 2012, Georgian Dream has, in recent years, intensified its anti-Western and anti-liberal positions. Critics accuse it of moving closer into the Kremlin's orbit, jeopardizing Georgia's bid for EU membership. The United States this week imposed sanctions on Georgian officials for violence targeting pro-Western protesters who unsuccessfully sought to stop the "foreign influence" law.