Fleeg Ukrae, LGBTQ refuge face untri' anti-gay laws and discrimatn : NPR

Contents:

• POLAND TO BAN GAYS OM ADOPTG, EVEN AS SGLE PARENTS
• POLAND WILL NOT LET EU 'FORCE' TO ALLOWG GAY MARRIAG, SAYS JTICE MISTER
• POLAND’S POPULISTS PICK A NEW TOP ENEMY: GAY PEOPLE
• EUROPE’S EPENG DIVI ON GAY RIGHTS
• LGBTQ REFUGE FLEEG UKRAE FACE DISCRIMATN UNTRI WH ANTI-GAY LAWS
• GAY POLAND

POLAND TO BAN GAYS OM ADOPTG, EVEN AS SGLE PARENTS

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. " He adds that many gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr Pol have recently emigrated to pe 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 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 . Some even held up pi of the nstutn to show that they believe the print has vlated the untry's legal a number of gay activists feel let down by liberal policians who have failed to take ncrete actns. Numero lol thori Poland passed rolutns 2019 clarg themselv ee of "LGBT iology", part of a nflict the predomantly Catholic untry between liberals and relig nservativ, who see the stggle for gay rights as a threat to tradnal valu.

POLAND WILL NOT LET EU 'FORCE' TO ALLOWG GAY MARRIAG, SAYS JTICE MISTER

"LGBT-ee zon" seek to ban what lol thori see as the promotn of homosexualy and other mory sexual inti, pecially mov set Poland on a llisn urse wh the European Commissn, which said the zon may vlate EU law regardg non-discrimatn on grounds of sexual a legal challenge om Poland's Human Rights Ombudsman, lower urts led that ne such rolutns mt be public prosecutor's office, the ultra-nservative thk-tank Ordo Iuris and the municipali volved then appealed agast the verdicts. Nobody should lim this, " he told Rters a text lg as the issue of "LGBT-ee zon" looks set to put EU fundg for Polish municipali volved at risk aga read more Last Friday the Campaign agast Homophobia said the EU Commissn had troduced a clse s Partnership Agreement wh Poland that would prevent municipali wh "LGBT-ee zon" receivg funds om the bloc's 2021-2027 EU source nfirmed that municipali which adopt polici judged by the bloc to be discrimatory would not receive fundg for astcture, the environment and some other areas.

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 people.Cred...Lena Mucha for The New York TimFor months, ernment misters spewed vic rhetoric about gay people. Tcks blasted anti-gay hate msag om loudspeakers on the streets of Poland’s ci.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.“Last year the suatn beme too much for me,” Ms.

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

But now their numbers are beg add to by gay people fleeg an creasgly hostile environment Poland.ImageCred...Anna 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 property.It is hard to know how many gay people there are Poland, or how many are leavg. Profsnals emigratg.Ptr Grabarczyk, a 31-year-old journalist, left Poland for Barcelona wh his boyiend last July, attracted by Spa’s more liberal way of life.Origally om a small town northern Poland, he scribed his childhood as one of “plete lonels and alienatn — the ter was my only pe.”“When I found out gay marriage Spa had been legal sce 2005, knocked me off my feet,” he said.

“We probably saw each other the stairse, said hello.”He said he received many msag om people across Poland, “who would like to leave for the same reasons as , but nnot bee of money, fay, or their reer choic.”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 life.The church, which is particularly powerful ral areas, has adopted an actively hostile attu toward gay people. Dehnel, the wrer who moved to Berl last year, said was “the drivg force of hate” toward the gay muny.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 Poland.Marek Jedraszewski, Poland’s archbishop, has scribed L.G.B.T.Q.

EUROPE’S EPENG DIVI ON GAY RIGHTS

Neher the ernment nor the print rpond to requts for ment.In 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.”ImageCred...Kasia Strek for The New York TimMr. There have been creasg s of vlence durg pri march, and agast dividuals.In 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. BRUSSELS/WARSAW, March 11 (Rters) - People livg same-sex upl will be barred om adoptg children Poland even as sgle parents, unr a new law announced on Thursday by a natnalist lg party which has ma anti-gay polici a major part of s erng announcement is likely to tensify a clash between Poland and the European Unn over LGBT rights, which the EU says mt be rpected all member stat, but which Poland lls a threat to s Roman Catholic culture and a purely domtic Polish ernment announced s plan for the adoptn ban hours before lawmakers the European parliament adopted a major gay rights rolutn that was seen as a direct rebe to Warsaw's recent already allows only oppose sex upl or sgle people to adopt children.

) people livg habatn wh a person of the same sex uld not adopt a child, so a homosexual uple will not be able to adopt a child, " said Deputy Jtice Mister Michal said the purpose of the measure was to protect children: "It's about a child's safety, about s wellbeg, " he said. Children serve a home, " activist Bartosz Staszewski told 's curbs on gay rights, which are beg mimicked nearby Hungary, are among several issu that have created ictn between the EU and right wg ernments power those two ex-munist member untri.

LGBTQ REFUGE FLEEG UKRAE FACE DISCRIMATN UNTRI WH ANTI-GAY LAWS

It clared all EU terrory to be an "LGBTIQ Freedom Zone", a clear rebuttal to the "LGBT-ee" signatn ed 's lg Law and Jtice Party (PiS) says gay rights are a threat to the tradnal liftyle one of the most Catholic untri Europe. Its crics say has turned to polics of bigotry to clg to power, particularly sce an electn last year, which PiS cumbent Print Andrzej Duda narrowly won wh an appeal to nservative voters that emphasised anti-gay msag.

GAY POLAND

REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File PhotoWARSAW (Rters) - Poland’s jtice mister said on Monday the European Unn may be a posn to force Warsaw to legalize gay marriage if EU lears make fancial aid ndnal on upholdg mocratic norms, and warned that this was talks Bssels on the next EU budget and an enomic revery plan, some lears have mand that payouts be blocked to member stat which the executive European Commissn (EC) ems to be unrmg mocratic valu. “There is a real risk that we may fd ourselv a suatn where the EC will effectively force to troduce the so-lled homosexual marriag wh the right to adopt children, ” he told a news nference.

Gay marriag are illegal Poland and Print Andrzej Duda was re-elected this month after sayg he would not allow adoptns by gay upl or perm class on gay rights state rights activist Alicja Sienkiewicz of the Lubl Equaly March Associatn, which supports lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people, said members of the LGBT muny were beg portrayed as enemi of the state. Parts of s particularly nservative, ral regns to the southeast have never embraced LGBT people; but now, homophobic rhetoric is uttered by the state and preached church, and hostily on the streets is boilg over. When a massive EU study earlier this year found that LGBT+ people on the ntent generally feel safer than they did five years ago, Poland was the glarg exceptn; two-thirds of gay, lbian and transgenr Pol said tolerance and acts of vlence agast them had creased, while four five said they avoid certa plac for fear of beg asslted — the hight rate Europe.

Homophobia exists not jt on many of Poland’s streets, but the closed-door uncil meetgs where the eedom of LGBT people is bated; and where a visceral, ep-rooted and alarmgly sual sentiment is laid bare. In Swidnik, a small town near the Ukraian borr, uncilors pated gays and lbians as “radil people strivg for a cultural revolutn, ” accg them of wishg to “attack eedom of speech (and) the nocence of children.

The pontiff was born jt a few towns to the east, and is revered for givg Pol hope durg the era of martial law — but his stnch opposn to homosexualy wined the chasm between many LGBT people and the church.

For 30 days, begng January 17, European Unn missners received daily Twter notifitns lkg to personal stori of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) Pol who have been harmed by the so-lled “LGBT Iology Free Zon” or anti-LGBT “Fay Charters” nearly 100 Polish regns, towns, and ci.