Eastern Europe was once a world lear on gay rights. Then ran out of spegoats | CNN

Contents:

• EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS
• POLAND’S POPULISTS PICK A NEW TOP ENEMY: GAY PEOPLE
• WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE GAY … POLAND?
• GAY PRI GETS POLIL POLAND
• POLISH GAY AND LBIAN MAGAZ

EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTAn latn verbal attacks by the Polish ernment, wh the support of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the threat of physil vlence on the streets of many ci, has triggered an exod of gay Mucha for The New York TimFor months, ernment misters spewed vic rhetoric about gay people. Fally fed up wh an creasgly hostile environment for gay people Poland unr the erng Law and Jtice party, Marta Malachowska, a 31-year-old who works social media, cid to move to Berl wh her girliend December.

But now their numbers are beg add to by gay people fleeg an creasgly hostile environment Limowicz for The New York TimAcrdg to a 2020 survey by ILGA-Europe, an ternatnal gay rights anizatn, Poland now ranks as the most homophobic untry the European Unn. Activists say that vlence agast gay people Poland surged last year, and clud s of physil vlence, sults and the stctn of is hard to know how many gay people there are Poland, or how many are leavg. ”Homosexualy has long been taboo Poland, where the Roman Catholic Church, which plays a proment role the untry’s social and polil life, has worked hand hand wh the ernment to promote a nservative way of church, which is particularly powerful ral areas, has adopted an actively hostile attu toward gay people.

Rpondg to a requt for ment, the Catholic Church poted to an official document outlg s posn, statg that homosexual “clatns” did not nstute “moral guilt, ” but homosexual acts did. It cled to ment on hate speech employed by prits, and the accatn that they were ntributg to the general terratn of the safety of gay people Jedraszewski, Poland’s archbishop, has scribed L.

POLAND’S POPULISTS PICK A NEW TOP ENEMY: GAY PEOPLE

Neher the ernment nor the print rpond to requts for April 2019 Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the chairman of the Law and Jtice party and Poland’s facto lear, lled homosexualy a “threat to Polish inty, to our natn, to s existence, and th to the Polish state. There have been creasg s of vlence durg pri march, and agast one cint a village southern Poland, a young gay man was harassed by neighbors hurlg homophobic abe at him, and one tried to poison his dog. And gay people livg the areas are faced wh a choice: emigrate, keep their heads down - or fight back.Magaze edor Tomasz Sakiewicz shows me to his Warsaw office.

The stggle for gay rights is a foreign ncept imported om the US and Wtern Europe, he adds, and threatens the tradnal heterosexual Polish fay.

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE GAY … POLAND?

Fd out moreWh state-sanctned homophobia and a largely hostile media, Polish gay people risk beg phed back to the closet, pecially small towns. Image ptn, Bart Staszewski SwidnikWhen I arrive on a Saturday morng, half a dozen gay activists are the ma square handg out leaflets, "love is love" stickers and iced doughnuts wh multi-loured sprkl. Their spokman, Bart Staszewski, has anised what he lled a queer tour of Poland's east to show people that gay people are "normal cizens".He adds: "We are the rabow myth-bters.

"Swidnik ee of rabow propaganda," they yell, tryg to drown out the sound of the breezy pop mic g om the speakers of the gay rights activists. And that's what the gays are tryg to do."Between the two groups, there's a long le of rt police all wearg helmets and bullet proof vts and sweatg the hot sun.

GAY PRI GETS POLIL POLAND

"We feel much safer." He adds that many gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr Pol have recently emigrated to pe persecutn.In Tuchow, a town of 6,500 people found medieval tim, which has also clared self ee of "LGBT iology", I meet a gay teenager a lol park. Still, that don't mean is easy to be gay this part of Poland, 100km east of Krakow.Media ptn, Poland has been lled the worst untry the EU for LGBT rights"Once, when my boyiend and I were holdg hands", he says, "we heard a few people shoutg nam at ." Gay people Tuchow, he adds, n only live peace by stayg "visible". So I refer them to a sexologist at a Church clic."At this pot, her hband Kazimierz terpts to tell that homosexualy is a sickns that n be treated.

POLISH GAY AND LBIAN MAGAZ

Durg his re-electn mpaign June, Print Duda signed a "Fay Charter," cludg pledg to prevent gay upl om marryg or adoptg children and to ban teachg about LGBT issu schools.Grzegorz Niemiec, a lol altar boy turned town uncillor who voted for the Rolutn agast "LGBT iology", says he was also worried about sex tn and wanted children to grow up "normal fai". Rather, 's that the polil parti, the European Unn - and the LGBT anisatns - they're all g Tuchow to pursue their own terts," she says.Some Polish policians have stood up for gay rights. Some even held up pi of the nstutn to show that they believe the print has vlated the untry's legal protectns.But a number of gay activists feel let down by liberal policians who have failed to take ncrete actns.

"We want them to grow up healthily and happily and not be abed by anyone.""Basilly the msage they've been blastg through those loudspeakers is that gays rape children," says Margot, who has jt been released om prison. "I jt read a post on Twter that one of the gay activists has said that the time for peaceful stggle is over", says Matsz Marzoch prottg outsi Warsaw's universy. It ranks 27 out of 28 European Unn stat when to equaly and non-discrimatn, acrdg to Rabow Europe, an anizatn lked to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn.

” Acrdg to the Campaign Agast Homophobia, 12 percent of people who don’t intify as heterosexual are victims of physil vlence Poland, while around nety percent of cints go unreported, acrdg to the 2016 survey.