On October 20, 2020, a Facebook page „მევახშეთა ლიგა“ (League of Merchants) published a photo and a quote by Grigol Gegelia, the majoritarian candidate of Lelo party in Rustavi. The quote said: “Georgian people will have to get used to same-sex marriage, Lelo will be the defender of rights of sexual minorities.” The shared post comes with a comment: “Voice of gay merchants in the Parliament.” The post does not specify when or where did Gegelia made that statement or whether the post is an attempt at political satire.
The quote published by the League of Merchants is non-authentic and does not belong to Grigol Gegelia. Through disseminating the falsified quote, the page aims at influencing the homophobic part of the public and discrediting a member of Lelo. In fact, neither Grigol Gegelia nor Lelo support the creation of legislative guarantees for same-sex marriage.
The quote, attributed by the League of Merchants to Gegelia, could not be found via open sources. Myth Detector contacted Grigol Gegelia himself, who confirmed that the quote is not his and that neither he nor Lelo support same-sex marriage.
Grigol Gegelia first voiced his position related to holding the May 17 pride in 2019, when he was an independent majoritarian candidate in Mtatsminda district. In a TV program about the May 17 events, Gegelia stated that he did not support the idea of holding the pride, as it causes unacceptance and confrontation in the public.
The founder of Lelo, Mamuka Khazaradze, voiced his position on LGBT rights on June 7, 2020. He stated that he did not support the right of same-sex couples to marry or to adopt a child, as, he claimed, “children should be raised by a mother and a father”.
How did Gegelia’s falsified quote spread?
The post, published by the League of Merchants, had 24 shares as of October 21. The post had been shared in three public Facebook groups: “პროტესტი! Protest! Протест!”, ,,სიმართლის გზა” (Way of the Truth), and “რუსთავი 21 ∆ RUSTAVI 21”.
The Facebook page League of Merchants was created on September 29, 2020 and has since published political, anti-opposition posts. The page has been created against the founder of Lelo, Mamuka Khazaradze, who used to work in banking, namely in TBC Bank, before he got into politics. The page has deliberately used the word “merchant”, which is usually used in a negative connotation in Georgia, in its name. Profile and cover photos of the page involves Mamuka Khazaradze together with the following text: “Will the Georgian people entrust the leadership of the country to a merchant?”
The page is mainly based on political articles published on Tvalsazrisi.ge, which is a disinformative platform and often relies on propagandist Russian sources.
