Kesaria Abramidze , a prominent Georgian transgender model , was found murdered in her Tbilisi apartment on Wednesday, a day after the Georgian government passed a new law imposing strict limits on LGBTQ+ rights. The 37-year-old was believed to have been stabbed to death, and a man has been arrested in connection with the crime, as reported by Georgian media. Abramidze, 37, was one of Georgia 's first openly transgender public figures.
The law includes bans on same-sex marriages and gender-affirming treatments, and it allows officials to ban Pride events and censor films and books. The new legislation, which passed its third and final reading in parliament on Tuesday, has been controversial. Critics say it mirrors anti-LGBTQ+ measures in Russia.
Civil society groups in Georgia have linked Abramidze's death to a broader state campaign against minorities. "There is a direct correlation between the use of hate speech in politics and hate crimes," the Social Justice Center , a Tbilisi-based human rights group, said. The group added, "It has been almost a year that the Georgian Dream government has been aggressively using homo/bi/transphobic language and cultivating it with mass propaganda means.
" Under the Georgian Dream party, which has become more anti-liberal, violence against LGBTQ+ people has increased. Last year, opponents of gay rights disrupted an LGBTQ+ festival in Tbilisi, forcing it to be canceled. This year, a large march promoting "traditional family values" took pla.