The two met immediately after Vasadze launched his political movement last month. Alexander Dugin, a Russian ultra-nationalist who is widely considered to be the Kremlin's chief ideologist-his nickname is 'Putin's Brain'-is a close associate. Levan Vasadze, who made his fortune in Russia, also shares connections to the Kremlin. Brown continues fostering relationships with Russia and after Donald Trump was elected president, he worked to unite Russian and American conservatives. WCF has been designated an anti-LGBTI hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The WCF was formed in Russia in 1997 at a meeting between Allan Carlson, an American academic and former official in the Reagan administration, and Russian intellectuals. Notably, Brown's election to this position was announced while he was in Tbilisi at a WCF conference where anti-LGBT forces gathered to "establish a beachhead in the region." In addition to his collaboration with Vasadze, Brown has nurtured relationships with illiberal leaders in Europe such as Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban and former Italian minister of the interior, Matteo Salvini. American authorities should take action.īrown first rose to prominence in the late naughts with his campaign against same-sex marriage in California and his creation of the National Organization for Marriage.Īfter the battle against same-sex marriage in the US was lost, he turned his attention abroad becoming president of World Congress of Families in 2016. Bannon and Trumpīrown vowed at the press conference to engage support for Vasadze in the US, including from Steve Bannon, while also teasing the promise of support from "president Trump himself."īrown did all of this despite his 501(c)3 non-profit, the International Organization for the Family, which includes the World Congress of Families, being barred from campaigning for or against political candidates under US law.
![anti gay flag waving anti gay flag waving](https://gray-koln-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/_elzdWzV8cTIAvsP-yros9rZwjk=/1200x675/smart/filters:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/UDUWJQAIEVNCBJSODZWGNHBBEY.jpg)
The moment encapsulated how even as US president Joe Biden tries to normalise US foreign policy, Trump allies continue to work to promote illiberalism abroad. Seated next to Vasadze as he announced his intention to enter Georgian politics was the American anti-LGBT activist Brian Brown. Just weeks before Tbilisi Pride the ultra-conservative Georgian activist, Levan Vasadze, who is affiliated with the group that organised the counter-protests, held a press conference at the Tbilisi Marriott Hotel. This show of solidarity with the LGBTIQ+ community was brave and unprecedented. The day after the violence unfolded, over 7,000 people waving rainbow flags marched down the capital's main street to the Georgian parliament.