The Chairman of Georgian Parliament signed the draft law “On Family Values and Protection of Minors”.

“Today, according to the Constitution of Georgia, I am signing the law “On Family Values and Protection of Minors”, which was not signed by Salome Zurabishvili.

It is symbolic that the nominal leader of the stateless and devalued opposition, who has become a lovable president, refuses to sign a law that protects the most valuable thing for a person - family and children. From this refusal, it is clear where Salome Zourabichvili stands and where the stateless oppositionists stand, who did not have enough courage to openly express their opinion regarding this law and shamefully sneaked out of the hall during the voting on the law.

The law that I am signing does not reflect current, temporary, changing ideas and ideologies, but is based on common sense, historical experience and centuries-old Christian, Georgian and European values.

I understand well that the signing of this law will cause criticism from some foreign partners, but we, Georgians, have never been afraid of others’ assessments when our faith, common sense and loyalty to the country required us to do so and when we saw that the currents of civilization were cutting the wrong bed. It has carried us through the millennia. This is how we have preserved our identity. At the same time, in the same foreign country, we see the spirit of millions of people in agreement with this law.

This law protects the rights of all citizens, including freedom of expression, so that the rights of others are not violated, which is the essence and idea of true democracy.

Tolerance was, is and will be a distinctive feature of the Georgian people. However, we must also realize that tolerance means living together based on mutual respect, not living by violating civil peace by ignoring other people’s beliefs and values.

This law is one of the ones with the greatest public support. On May 17, 2024, about a million citizens of Georgia took to the streets of Georgian cities, thereby holding an actual referendum on this law. In the process of its adoption, we also had discussions with representatives of religious denominations, where both the Georgian Orthodox Church and other religious denominations expressed their full support for the spirit of this law.

Therefore, for me, signing this law is the signature with the greatest legitimacy. A signature behind which both the nation and the monk stand”, - writes Shalva Papuashvili on his Facebook page.