( voluntary )

Community organizations working on LGBTQ issues in Georgia thank Nino Lomjaria and his team for their hard work and principled decisions on queer issues!
Under Nino Lomjaria’s public defender, the Public Defender’s Office was established as a state institution supporting LGBTQ people in Georgia. During the last years, within the framework of its supervisory mandate, the office issued several important recommendations and general proposals, which significantly increased the possibility of advocating for issues relevant to LGBTQ people in Georgia.

The decisions taken by the Public Defender that are related to reducing the socio-economic vulnerability of LGBTQI persons in Georgia and responding to gender-motivated violence, in particular, access to quality trans-specific health care, to ensure that the Public Defender submitted to the Ministry of Health the National Trans-specific Health Services It recommended the development of guidelines and protocols (guiding principles).[1] During the period of Nino Lomjaria’s public defense, the important decisions and reports developed by the apparatus are also related to the creation of a simple and transparent mechanism for legal recognition of gender, the elimination of discriminatory practices against trans people in the field of education, which was manifested in the request of higher educational institutions to submit a document confirming their presence on military registration[2], bringing to justice the persons responsible for the destructive and criminal actions that took place on July 5-6, etc.[3]

Within the framework of Nino Lomjaria’s activities, the apparatus established important standards in the direction of eliminating discriminatory treatment based on sexual orientation and gender identity[4], made the review of challenges related to the civil, political, social, and economic rights of queer people a part of the annual parliamentary reports and issuing relevant recommendations. Also, during the period of Nino Lomjaria’s public defender, the Office of the Public Defender devoted special reports to the situation of LGBTQI people in Georgia for the first time[5].

It should be noted that according to the research of the Women’s Initiative Support Group, among the members of the LGBTQI community, after community organizations, the Office of the Public Defender enjoys the highest trust in relation to all other actors, including state institutions.[6)

Community organizations thank Nino Lomjaria and his team for their hard work and principles, and we also hope that the Office of the Public Defender will remain an important actor working on queer issues in the future.

Signatory organizations:

Queer Association - TEMIDA

Women Iniciatives' Supporting Group

Equality Movement