Dozens of Polish towns have clared themselv ee of "LGBT iology". It means difficult choic for gay people livg them.
Contents:
- GAY PRI PARIS (MARCHE S FIERTéS)
- FILE:GAY PRI FLAG OF
- ANTI-GAY BTALY A POLISH TOWN BLAMED ON POISONO PROPAGANDA
- RECENT POLISH GAY PRI ATTEN WERE STONED BY PROTTERS
- POLISH GAY PRI MARCHERS REFE TO YIELD TO VLENT ATTACKS
GAY PRI PARIS (MARCHE S FIERTéS)
* polish gay pride *
Saturday’s march was one of 24 paras schled to take place this year Poland – a rerd number that mpaigners say is a reactn to the uptick of homophobic and transphobic language by Poland’s Catholic lears and PiS. “I thk the way that some policians of this party spoke publicly about LGBT[Q] issu ma other people Poland ls aaid to e hate speech, ” lol gay rights activist Joanna Glzek, 28, who -anized Bialystok’s march told CNN.
“All the signs are showg that Kaczynski will ntue wh the spegoat strategy, which go hand--hand wh the Polish Catholic church that has ma the LGBTQ muny s biggt enemy, ” said Miroslawa Makuchowska, head of the polil divisn of the Polish advocy group Campaign Agast Homophobia.
The Warsaw-based nonprof Campaign Agast Homophobia (KPH) told CNN that more than 30 uncils had clared themselv ee of “LGBT iology” the past few months – rponse to Warsaw’s liberal mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, om the opposn Civic Platform (PO), signg a claratn support of LGBTQ rights. Image source, EPAImage ptn, Poland's LGBT muny is facg risg discrimatnThoands of people have marched Poland's biggt Pri equaly para was held Warsaw, amid a backdrop of risg discrimatn agast the untry's LGBT 's right-wg print Andrzej Duda has scribed what he lls "LGBT iology" as beg worse than munism, and has vowed to block gay marriage and source, Getty ImagWhile same-sex upl are barred om adoptg children as upl, some lol thori have historilly allowed applints to adopt as sgle earlier this year the untry's jtice mistry proposed that this loophole be closed, so that LGBT people are pletely prevented om source, EPAImage ptn, Dozens of small towns have passed rolutns agast what they ll "LGBT iology"And across Poland, dozens of small towns have passed rolutns clarg themselv "LGBT-ee zon". But this year’s events are takg place at a time when homophobia is on the rise Poland, fueled by hateful ments om the ernment and Roman Catholic Church (RCC) lears.
FILE:GAY PRI FLAG OF
Tens of thoands marched through the streets of Warsaw on Saturday to mand equaly for LGBTQ people, as the muny ey upg Polish electns which gay rights uld play a proment role. * polish gay pride *
Later, he began trag as a psychologist while workg as a cultural ambassador of Poland to the Internatnal Lbian and Gay Culture Network, a post he held om 2000 to 2006. ‘I am now an openly gay Catholic and I stand wh my head high’ The most important aspect of the group’s work, says Pawlik, is lol meetgs for LGBTQ Christians, many of whom “are difficult suatns and eply the closet.
The activist says there is also a need Poland for clergy-n pastoral re specifilly for LGBTQ Catholics as an alternative to the pastoral iativ sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church, which, acrdg to her, plac an emphasis on “curg” people om homosexualy. "It seems that the parents have been doctratg their child for a long time, " the statement add, accg Baryła of beg "seen at meetgs wh racists and homophob.
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. " 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.
ANTI-GAY BTALY A POLISH TOWN BLAMED ON POISONO PROPAGANDA
Mob vlence agast gay men and lbians has raised grave ncerns about the steady stream of anti-L.G.B.T. language livered by policians. * polish gay pride *
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.
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. "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. Thoands marched through central Warsaw on Saturday an “equaly para”, amid what mpaigners say has been a risg ti of homophobia Poland recent 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 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.
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 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.
RECENT POLISH GAY PRI ATTEN WERE STONED BY PROTTERS
Poland is beg an creasgly hostile place for LGBTQ people. Bialystok, Poland had s first gay pri, but the 1,000 people rated rabow lors… * polish gay pride *
” 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. Neverthels, “attus towards the LGBTQ muny have e a long way” says Robert Biedron, who beme Poland’s first openly gay and atheistic polician when he me out 2011.
Mirosława Makuchowska, om the Campaign Agast Homophobia, says while such announcements are not legally bdg, they send a “disturbg msage” to the populatn.
” A 2017 report by the Centre for Rearch on Prejudice of the Universy of Warsaw found that sce PiS entered ernment 2015, Polish populatn’s exposure to hate speech the media, cludg agast gay people, has creased by 25%. The report stat that hate speech is “particularly dangero for youth, ” who were found to e hate speech most often and whose “sensivy to homophobic statements” creased.
POLISH GAY PRI MARCHERS REFE TO YIELD TO VLENT ATTACKS
One member of Budapt Pri, which aniz pri events, Viktória Radványi, tells TIME that “ spe of the growg number of people jog equaly march, homophobia the ernment and the prs has creased over the past few months. ” Durg a Budapt fom on May 15 as part of the European electns mpaign, a Fisz member and Chair of the Natnal Assembly Laszlo Kover, said there was “no moral difference” between pedophil and gay upl adoptg children.
Biedron, who suffered four anti-gay physil asslts when he served as a Member of Parliament om 2011 to 2014, says “the distance between hate speech and hate crime is small.
Embassy and alongsi reprentativ om Canada, Atria and other Wtern untri the Equaly recent years Wtern ernments have been alarmed as the nservative ernment Warsaw picted gays, lbians, bisexuals and transgenr people as threats to the natn and s children.