A kinto ( ka, კინტო) was a trader or an unemployed person mostly occupied in entertaining others in
Georgian ''dukhans'' (restaurants), popular in
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...
in the 19th century and early in the 20th century.
The Georgian
Kintouri (or ''kintauri'') dance in based on the character of the , and portrays them as cunning, swift, and informal. The dance is light-natured and fun to watch.
Recent research suggests that
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...
was common among the kinto community and tolerated by the mainstream society, which did not care about the lives of these marginalized peoples. The kinto thus became a symbol of the
Tbilisi Pride movement.
[ Heinrich Böll Foundation]
Shorena Gabunia
2019: "The visual side of Tbilisi Pride is also very telling. Its main symbol is a Kinto — low-class traders and entertainers in 19th-century Tbilisi whose culture gave rise to the traditional Georgian comic kintouri dance — with the rainbow flag. Kintos gained some media and queer attention recently due to research that claimed that homosexuality was common in their community and was tolerated by society. The author of the research, Shorena Gabunia, argues that this 'tolerance' is not difficult to explain: high-class society simply didn't care about the practices of excluded and marginalised people. Kintos were also often used as prostitutes."
References
Culture of Georgia (country)
Georgian words and phrases
{{Georgia-stub