The Public Defender Gave a Recommendation to Medical State University Based on the Statements of the Equality Movement

The Office of Public Defender of Georgia issued a recommendation to the Tbilisi State Medical University on the basis of statements made by the Equality Movement regarding the existence of homophobic and stigma-enhancing records in the textbooks of the university.

The Equality Movement appealed to the Public Defender’s Office on November 2, 2018 and June 14, 2019 to respond to alleged discrimination cases. According to the statements, the terms and expressions used in Forensic Medicine and Bioethics textbooks of Tbilisi State Medical University reinforce stereotypes and encouraging discrimination against LGBT + people.

Forensic Medicine (author Besarion Kilasonia) uses the terms: “pederastia,” “active pederast,” “passive pedarast,” “perverted sexual intercourse”. Transsexuality is defined as “self-awareness disorder” and “sadism”.

Bioethics (author Bela Mamulashvili) uses the following terms: “sin of homosexuality,” “homosexualists,” “special sexual orientation,” “hidden homosexual deviations.” There is written in the book that “It is not clear if homosexuality is a special sexual orientation or it is considered as a one of the forms of mental disorder”.

The textbook uses words with strongly negative connotations towards HIV-positive people. The bioethics manual on artificial abortion explains that “every case of artificial abortion should be evaluated as evil.” However, according to the same guide, “abortion cannot be considered as a common family planning measure as contraceptives are.”

After a thorough examination of the case, the Public Defender ‘s office found that the records in the above guidelines do not comply with national and international human rights standards. Thus, they impede the realization of a human rights-based approach in the field of education and fails to achieve the goals set by the state in the field of higher education.

The Public Defender of Georgia gave a recommendation to Medical University that to provide the courses Forensic Medicine and Medical Law as well as Bioethics with appropriate teaching materials corresponds to the basic human rights within the current academic year. The recommendation includes changes in existing editions of textbooks as an annex and implementation them into the curriculum.

Organisation Women’s Initiative Support Group (WISG) is involved in this process as a third party.

The full text of the recommendation can be found at: Recommendation to the Tbilisi State Medical University on the content of the study textbooks