Family Sanctity Day in Georgia Date in the current year: May 17, 2025

Family Sanctity Day was born out of a confrontation between Georgia’s LGBTQ+ community and conservative groups, supported by the Georgian Orthodox Church and later by Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream. It is celebrated on the same day as the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia and there is a reason for that.

It all started on May 17, 2013, when Georgian LGBTQ+ activists organized a peaceful rally to celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia and to protest against homophobia and discrimination. Orthodox Christian and conservative activists, led by several priests of the Georgian Orthodox Church, staged their own anti-LGBT demonstration, which turned violent, injuring 28 people, mostly civil and human rights activists and several police officers. The police, who were supposed to protect members of the LGBTQ+ community, were unable to contain the conservative activists.

Following these events, Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia (the spiritual leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church), proclaimed May 17 as Family Sanctity Day in contrast to the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. For a decade, the holiday was celebrated unofficially, mainly by the church and conservative groups, but the situation changed in 2024 due to a change in the political climate in Georgia.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Georgia applied for EU membership, but in the following months its relations with the European Union deteriorated, and the ruling Georgian Dream party turned from a pro-European to a Euroskeptic party. Its stance became much more conservative, which eventually led to the adoption of several laws that were internationally condemned by Western countries and human rights organizations.

One of these laws was the Law on Family Values and Protection of Minors, widely referred to as Georgia’s anti-LGBT propaganda law. Often compared to similar laws in Russia, it introduced a number of measures that significantly curtail the rights of LGBTQ+ people, including a ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions, adoption restrictions, a ban on gender-affirming health care, a ban on changing gender markers on official documents, censorship of LGBTQ+ content, a ban on public gatherings and demonstrations of the LGBTQ+ community, and more.

Shortly before the Law on Family Values and Protection of Minors was introduced to the Georgian Parliament, the Georgian government added Family Sanctity Day to the list of public holidays and declared it a non-working day. It was first celebrated as a public holiday on May 17, 2024. Celebrations included special church services and religious processions and rallies to protect traditional family values, organized by the Georgian Orthodox Church and the ruling party.