Poland's right-wg populist lear Andrzej Duda me to power last year on a platform cryg a ‘LGBT-iology’ he alleged was spreadg throughout his untry at the expense of tradnal fay valu. Now, dozens of Polish municipali have enacted "LGBT iology ee zon" makg members of the gay muny this European Unn member state fear for their safety. Simon Ostrovsky reports om Poland wh support om the Pulzer Center.
Contents:
- FOR POLAND'S GAY COMMUNY, A SHIFT IN PUBLIC ATTUS, IF NOT LAWS
- IS POLAND GAY-IENDLY? - POLAND FOM
- GAY ORGANIZATN POLAND
- POLAND’S POPULISTS PICK A NEW TOP ENEMY: GAY PEOPLE
FOR POLAND'S GAY COMMUNY, A SHIFT IN PUBLIC ATTUS, IF NOT LAWS
Dozens of Polish towns have clared themselv ee of "LGBT iology". It means difficult choic for gay people livg them. * poland gay community *
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. Fd out moreWh state-sanctned homophobia and a largely hostile media, Polish gay people risk beg phed back to the closet, pecially small towns.
IS POLAND GAY-IENDLY? - POLAND FOM
An 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. * poland gay community *
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" adds: "We are the rabow myth-bters.
GAY ORGANIZATN POLAND
* poland gay community *
"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. " 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 . 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. Rather, 's that the polil parti, the European Unn - and the LGBT anisatns - they're all g Tuchow to pursue their own terts, " she Polish policians have stood up for gay rights.
POLAND’S POPULISTS PICK A NEW TOP ENEMY: GAY PEOPLE
Poland do not allow gay marriage or same-sex unns, and is unlikely to amend the laws anytime soon. But the cy of Gdansk elected an openly gay mayor and has hosted s first gay pri march. * poland gay community *
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. The nservative chary regularly sends tcks wh loudspeakers around Polish ci wh a msage nflatg homosexualy and sex tn wh paedophilia. ""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.
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.
Wh Poland's lg Law and Jtice party and the Catholic Church g gay rights to stir up a culture war, the untry's LGBTQ muny is feelg the effects. Deprsn and suici are risg dramatilly, and many now feel they have no choice but to leave. * poland gay community *
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.
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.
Gay Organizatn Poland. Look at our full list of 13 gay meetg plac that may make easier to to seek out your neart gay meetg place Poland. Updated on 2023 * poland gay community *
In March 2021, another gay man was verbally attacked and then stabbed for holdg hands wh his partner a gay person Poland, Mr. In a bid to get re-elected last year, Print Andrzej Duda signed a draft law that would amend the Constutn to ban adoptns by gay Ms.
" It effectively equat homosexualy wh pedophilia clarg that the cy admistratn is mted to "Dog everythg to stop perverts who are terted the early sexualizatn of Polish children and adolcents. At that time, s most famo native — Polish mocracy in Lech Wala, founr of the Solidary movement — said on TV that gays had no right to impose their will on the Polish majory.
LGBT Rights Poland: homosexualy, gay marriage, gay adoptn, servg the ary, sexual orientatn discrimatn protectn, changg legal genr, donatg blood, age of nsent, and more. * poland gay community *
Homophobic attus were prevalent among Polish lawmakers when Robert Biedron was elected as a member of parliament back 2011. Slupsk Mayor Robert Biedron (om left) and LGBT activists Marta Abramowicz and Marta Kosska stand next to a symbolic Gdansk ln statue pated rabow lors honor of the cy's first gay rights march, held May. "I was the first member of the Polish parliament who was openly gay, " Biedron says, "and they would not be brave enough to shake hands publicly bee somebody would thk they're gay.
' " But Biedron, 39, says attus toward gays are improvg, part bee the Catholic Church's fluence is shrkg Poland and bee more Pol are g out of the closet. Polish gay rights activists say there are other chang, too, cludg the openg of central Europe's first homels shelter for LGBT teens earlier this year Warsaw.
Poland’s lg party hop for polil eage attackg gay people. * poland gay community *
Marianna Szczygielska, the project ordator for the Warsaw-based Campaign agast Homophobia, says attus toward gays here began to change when Poland joed the European Unn 2004. LGBT is still a popular term ed to discs genr and sexual mori, but all GSRM are wele beyond lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people who nsent to participate a safe space.