Elska Issue 44 Tbilisi Georgia

Welcome to the forty-fourth edition of Elska, made in Tbilisi, Georgia. Although some of you may think this an unusual destination for a project about showcasing gay life around the world, that is part of the mission of Elska, to take us to the places about which we know less and perhaps think less. And this gorgeous city in this beautiful bit of the Caucasus is no exception.
However, the choice of Tbilisi as our first Caucasian issue is no random act of box-ticking or throwing darts at a map. This city is actually one of the five places I most wanted to visit for Elska when this project was started over eight years ago. I have a strong personal connection with Georgia, a country that was the focus of a PhD I embarked upon a decade ago, shortly before starting Elska. Specifically my thesis was to be about attitudes towards homosexuality in post-Soviet Georgia, and although I have to admit that I did not finish my research, I hoped to one day 'complete' it in the form of an edition of Elska.
All texts published in their original languages and followed by English translations where applicable

Featuring in this issue iakob m, demetre j, nika р, omo t , lili n, david a , nikita n, miko s, iason s, nika j, dmitrii g.

Extra special thanks this issue goes to:
Josiah Blackmore, Frank Dalton, Andrew McPherson, Joe Pinto, Malkhaz Saldadze, and Rezi Shavladze