Rusudan Gotsiridze ( ka, რუსუდან გოცირიძე; born 8 February 1975,

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

) is a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia and a

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

activist. She was the first female Baptist bishop in Georgia. She has advocated against gender violence and for women's equality, and created

interfaith Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions (i.e. "faiths") and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels. It is ...

dialogues to support religious minorities. She was also one of the first members of the religious community in Georgia to publicly support the rights of the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

community. She also spoke at the 6th

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Forum on Minority Issues about religious minorities in Georgia. She received a 2014

International Women of Courage The International Women of Courage Award, also referred to as the U.S. Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award, is an American award presented annually by the United States Department of State to women around the world who have ...

award.

References

External links

Cup of Tea Theology: Bishop Rusudan Gotsiridze's talk at TEDxTbilisi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gotsiridze, Rusudan Women bishops Living people Women's rights activists from Georgia (country) Feminists from Georgia (country) 1975 births Clergy from Tbilisi Tbilisi State University alumni Recipients of the International Women of Courage Award