It’s a dismal number | Photo: Unsplash/Sharon McCutcheon
A new poll shows that the majority of people in Georgia, the Eurasian country in the Caucasus region, don’t believe LGBTI rights should be protected.
Conducted by National Democratic Institute (NDI), the poll reveals Georgia’s LGBTI community severely lacks support.
NDI initially did the poll in June of this year, and published the results on Wednesday (1 August). They surveyed 2,409 people with a +/- 1.9% margin of error.
The results concluded that only 23% of Georgians believe in the protections of LGBTI rights. Though this is a 2% increase from when this poll was last conducted, in 2015, it is still horribly low.
The remainder of the results reveal that 44% think LGBTI rights aren’t important, and another 26% are neutral.
When asked about the rights of other marginalized groups, Georgians responded much more positively.
60% said it’s important to protect the rights of religious and ethnic minorities, while 93% responded similarly for people with disabilities.
A country struggling
Though Georgia is one of the few former Soviet Union countries that explicitly prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, homosexuality is still considered a major offense to the country’s Orthodox Christian values.
Earlier this year, they canceled their IDAHOBIT celebrations due to security concerns.
A trans activist was also brutally assaulted in February.
H/t: OC Media
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