Kesaria Abramidze

Kesaria Abramidze (Georgian: კესარია აბრამიძე; 18 August 1987 – 18 September 2024) was a Georgian blogger, actress and model. She was the first person in the country to publicly admit to being transgender.

Biography

Before transitioning, Abramidze's genetic material was frozen outside the country. She announced that she had undergone gender-affirming surgery in 2014, appearing the following year in an underwear advertisement.

Abramidze was a guest on several shows, including the television series Psychopath Games and Davit Kovziridze's show Zhure Katsat. Abramidze participated in the Miss Trans Global beauty pageant and represented Georgia. She later became the host of First House on Rustavi 2.

Death

Abramidze was found murdered on 18 September 2024 at her home on the outskirts of Tbilisi, just one day after the Parliament of Georgia passed the Georgian LGBT propaganda bill Michael Roth, the Chairman of Bundestag's Committee on International Relations, directly connected Abramidze's murder to the new anti-LGBTQ+ law. The next day, a 26-year-old person was arrested at Kutaisi International Airport, who was allegedly in a relationship with the model and had previously threatened her. In a post in April of that same year, Abramidze had already reported both physical and psychological abuse by her partner. The murder caused shock in the country and was condemned by the Georgian Attorney General, Levan Ioseliani; the country's president, Salome Zurabishvili, who proposed that it should be a wake-up call for society as a whole, and by the spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office.