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
• ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
• THE U.S. & JAMAI ARE FIGHTG OVER GAY RIGHTS
• POLAND’S POPULISTS PICK A NEW TOP ENEMY: GAY PEOPLE
• GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT

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

“I will go to an ‘LGBT-ee zone’ Poland, ’” said Clément Bene, French Secretary of State for European Affairs, a December terview which he also publicly me out as a gay man. Kraśnik is one of almost 100 regns and municipali Poland that have endorsed discrimatn agast lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) people by clarg themselv “LGBT-iology ee” or adoptg “charters” that promote an exclively heterosexual mol of fai.

The Polish ernment’s shameful cisn to prevent a gay official om visg a part of the untry, one spects at least part bee of his sexual orientatn, is a stgg remr of how much the populist Law and Jtice (PiS) lg party’s polici have impacted the rights of LGBT people. 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.

ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

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.

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.

And sce they are unable to form civil unns, gay upl are practilly visible official terms.

THE U.S. & JAMAI ARE FIGHTG OVER GAY RIGHTS

”But anecdotally, pecially wh the untry’s well-ted gay urban muni, there are many stori of young L. ”“When I found out gay marriage Spa had been legal sce 2005, knocked me off my feet, ” he said.

”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. 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 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.

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

”Tcks fund by ultranservative anizatns have roamed the untry, blarg slogans om speakers accg gay people of pedophilia. 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. In March 2021, another gay man was verbally attacked and then stabbed for holdg hands wh his partner a gay person Poland, Mr.

Iology, ” makg gay Pol feel unwele their own legal stat of L. 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. 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.

The tweets were part of a mpaign led by two Polish LGBT groups, Campaign Agast Homophobia (Kampania Przeciw Homofobii, KPH) and The Equaly Foundatn (Fundacja Równości, FR), llg on EU Commissners to iate an gement procre – a legal actn that n lead to referral to the European Court of Jtice – agast Poland. Thoands marched through central Warsaw on Saturday an “equaly para”, amid what mpaigners say has been a risg ti of homophobia Poland recent years.LGBT rights have bee a central part of a wir stggle the untry between liberals, who strs the need for a more tolerant and clive society, and relig nservativ, who nounce what they say is an attempt to subvert tradnal valu the predomantly Catholic natn.Amid a sea of rabow flags, marchers gathered outsi the towerg neo-Gothic Palace of Culture and Science central Warsaw, as a DJ played dance mic om a stage before the start of the march.“The equaly para is a celebratn of LGBT people and all those who have to fight for their rights,” said 22-year-old rtrant worker Sylwter Cimochowski.“Homophobia is a huge problem Poland … there are lots of people who n’t pe wh , they kill themselv. Photograph: Wojtek Radwański/AFP/Getty ImagPolicians and clergy have been acced of stokg homophobia Poland.

GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT

Some nservativ say they have nothg agast gay people but oppose what they ll “LGBT iology”.Meanwhile, Hungary Viktor Orbán’s natnalist ernment, which is allied wh Poland’s erng Law and Jtice (PiS) party, has troduced a law banng the “display and promotn of homosexualy” among unr-18s.“It’s gettg more and more difficult … but at the same time there is more and more ristance,” said Marta Borkowska, a 37-year-old bs nsultant, referrg to the suatn of LGBT people central and eastern Europe.Asked what she would say to people who are opposed to the march, she replied: “I would say, ‘don’t be aaid’.”. In 2019, a wave of Polish towns and ci passed rolutns clarg themselv “LGBT-Free Zon” that at one pot enpassed one-third of the untry.Sce then, activists and legal experts have fought to revoke or nullify the claratns, chippg away at the bloc of LGBT-Free Zon largely found the southeastern part of the untry.Signifint progrs has been difficult, sce Poland has been facg a le-of-law crisis gog back to at least 2017, when the right-wg Law and Jtice, or PiS party began spreadg s fluence on key bodi such as the Constutnal Court.The crisis the judiciary ns so ep that the EU iated Article 7 proceedgs agast Poland, which spend certa rights for member stat if they are emed to persistently be breach of the EU’s fundamental valu.The European Commissn lnched legal proceedgs agast Poland at the European Court of Jtice (ECJ), a se known as Commissn v Poland, and the ECJ orred Poland to spend the laws that terfere wh the pennce of the judiciary.Poland ignored the lgs.Now the untry’s Human Rights Ombudsman, Marc Wiącek, has cid to tackle both the homophobic rolutns and the falterg legal system at the same time.The Office of the Ombudsman, while formally an stutn fanced by the ernment, exists many untri as an pennt one-man state body wh the mandate to lnch quiri to vlatns of human rights perpetrated by any stutn or body the untry.Even his electn was marred by difficulty, wh PiS blockg the opposn-backed ndidate for 10 months.‘Fightg the rabow plague’This week, Wiącek lnched a plat agast one of the municipali that have held onto their LGBT-Free Zone signatn sce 2017.Tzów Narodowy is a small settlement the municipaly of Rzzów known to those outsi of Poland as one of the ma stops along the Ukraian refugee route om the borr to Warsaw.Lol thori have refed to rcd the anti-LGBT legislatn, wh the mayor statg that this “would mean takg the si of the rabow plague, which is the aforementned diabolil iology, and nsentg to downgradg the morals of young generatns, startg om krgarten.”So Wiącek cid to sue them the admistrative urts.His plat dit that the anti-LGBT rolutn “cross the boundari of public bate, vlat the Constutn, ternatnal law and EU law” as well as creatg “stigmatisatn and an atmosphere of excln for the LGBT muny.”“Legal and iologil issu ncerng LGBT people are the subject of public bate Poland.

Hungary’s hardle natnalist ernment passed a new law earlier this month banng ntent that “promot” homosexualy and genr change om beg shared wh children, effectively prohibg any discsn of LGBTQ them schools. In dog so, Orbán has followed the playbook of Poland’s ernment, which has been chippg away at the rights of the LGBTQ muny for a number of years, adoptg discrimatory rhetoric and stokg homophobia.