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[[File:02019 1209 (2) Neo-Nazis attack an LGBT rigths pride parade in Rzeszów.jpg|thumb|Nationalists counter-protesting June 2019 [[Rzeszów]] pride parade]] |
[[File:02019 1209 (2) Neo-Nazis attack an LGBT rigths pride parade in Rzeszów.jpg|thumb|Nationalists counter-protesting June 2019 [[Rzeszów]] pride parade]] |
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[[File:02019 0895 Rzeszów Pride.jpg|thumb|June 2019 [[Rzeszów]] pride parade]] |
[[File:02019 0895 Rzeszów Pride.jpg|thumb|June 2019 [[Rzeszów]] pride parade]] |
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⚫ | In [[Rzeszow]], after LGBT activists submitted a request to march in the city, PiS councilors drafted a resolution to make Rzeszow a LGBT-free zone as well as outlaw the event itself.<ref name="Balkan20190626" /> Some 29 requests four counter-demonstrations reached city hall, which led mayor Tadeusz Ferenc, of the opposition [[Democratic Left Alliance]], to ban the march due to security concerns.<ref name="Balkan20190626" /> The ban was then overturned by a court ruling.<ref name="Balkan20190626" /> PiS councilors put forward a resolution outlawing "LGBT ideology", which was defeated by two votes.<ref name="Balkan20190626">[https://balkaninsight.com/2019/06/26/save-the-children/ ‘FOREIGN IDEOLOGY’: POLAND’S POPULISTS TARGET LGBT RIGHTS], Claudia Ciobanu, [[Balkan Insight]], 26 June 2019</ref> |
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In [[Kielce]], which lies within a LGBT-free zone, activists held the first LGBT+ parade in the city in July 2019.<ref name="Wapo20190719/> |
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⚫ | In [[Rzeszow]], after LGBT activists submitted a request to march in the city, PiS councilors drafted a resolution to make Rzeszow a LGBT-free zone as well as outlaw the event itself.<ref name="Balkan20190626" /> Some 29 requests four counter-demonstrations reached city hall, which led mayor Tadeusz Ferenc, of the opposition [[Democratic Left Alliance]], to ban the march due to security concerns.<ref name="Balkan20190626" /> The ban was then overturned by a court ruling.<ref name="Balkan20190626" /> PiS councilors put forward a resolution outlawing "LGBT ideology", which was defeated by two votes.<ref name="Balkan20190626">[https://balkaninsight.com/2019/06/26/save-the-children/ ‘FOREIGN IDEOLOGY’: POLAND’S POPULISTS TARGET LGBT RIGHTS], Claudia Ciobanu, [[Balkan Insight]], 26 June 2019</ref> |
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On 20 July 2019, the first pride parade ever was held in [[Białystok]], a PiS stronghold,<ref name="CBC20190727"/> surrounded by Białystok county which is a declared LGBT-free zone.<ref name="NYT20190727"/> Two weeks before the march Archbishop [[Tadeusz Wojda]] delivered a proclamation to all churches in [[Podlaskie Voivodeship]] and Białystok stating that pride marches were "blasphemy against God".<ref name="NYT20190727"/> Wojda also asserted that the march was "foreign" and thanked those who "defend Christian values".<ref name="CBC20190727"/> Approximately a thousand pride marchers were opposed by thousands of members of far-right groups, [[ultras|ultra football fans]], and others.<ref name="CNN20190721"/> Firecrackers were tossed at the marchers, homophobic slogans were chanted, and the marchers were pelted with rocks and bottles.<ref name="NYT20190727"/><ref name="CBC20190727"/><ref name="CNN20190721">[https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/21/europe/bialystok-polish-lgbtq-pride-intl/index.html Polish city holds first LGBTQ pride parade despite far-right violence], CNN, 21 July 2019</ref> Dozens of marchers were injured.<ref name="NYT20190727"/> [[Amnesty International]] criticized the police response, saying they had failed to protect marchers and "failed to respond to instances of violence".<ref name="PinkNews20190802">[https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/08/02/archbishop-claims-rainbow-plague-afflicting-poland/ Archbishop claims a ‘rainbow plague’ is afflicting Poland], Pink News, 2 August 2019</ref> According to the [[New York Times]], similar to the manner in which the [[Unite the Right rally]] in Charlottesville shocked Americans, the violence in Białystok raised public concern in Poland over anti-LGBT propaganda.<ref name="NYT20190727"/> Thousands took to the streets in Warsaw to protest the violence in Białystok.<ref name="NYT20190727">[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/27/world/europe/gay-pride-march-poland-violence.html Anti-Gay Brutality in a Polish Town Blamed on Poisonous Propaganda], New York Times, 27 July 2019</ref> |
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== Reactions == |
== Reactions == |
Revision as of 14:45, 21 August 2019
An LGBT-free zone (Polish: Strefa wolna od LGBT[4]) is an act by a Polish municipality,[1][5] Powiat (county),[6] or Voivodeship (province)[7] declaring their respective regions as free of LGBT "ideology".[8] While unenforceable and considered primarily symbolic, activists say the declared zones represent an attempt to stigmatize and exclude members of the LGBT community.[5][7] As of August 2019, around 30 different LGBT-free zone declarations have been made in Poland, including four Voivodeships in the south-east of the country:[1][2][6][9] Lesser Poland, Podkarpackie, Świętokrzyskie, and Lublin.[2]
Background
In February 2019, Warsaw's liberal mayor Rafał Trzaskowski's signed a declaration supporting LGBTQ rights[7][10] and announced his intention to follow World Health Organization guidelines and integrate LGBT issues into the Warsaw school sex education curricula.[7] PiS politicians objected to the sex education program saying it would sexualize children.[11] PiS party leader Jarosław Kaczyński responded to the declaration, calling LGBT rights "an import" that threatened Poland.[12] The declaration "enraged and galvanized" conservative politicians and conservative media in Poland, according to The Daily Telegraph.[7] The LGBT-free zone declarations are considered to be a reaction to the Warsaw declaration.[7][13]
The conservative establishment is fearful of a liberal transition that may erode the power of the Catholic Church in Poland in a manner similar to the transition around the Irish Church.[7] Decreasing Church attendance, rising secularization, and priest pedophilia scandals have put pressure on the conservative position.[7]
In May 2019, Polish police arrested civil-rights activist Elżbieta Podleśna for putting up posters of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa with the halo painted rainbow colors for the charge of offending religious sentiment, which is illegal in Poland.[14][15] Also in May, two weeks prior to the 2019 European Parliament election, a documentary on child sex abuse in the Church, was released online.[14] The documentary was expected to hurt the Church-aligned PiS electorally, which lead to PiS leader Kaczynski to speak heatedly of the Polish nation and children as being under attack by deviant foreign ideas, which led conservative voters to rally around PiS.[14] According to feminist scholar Agnieszka Graff, "The attack on LGBT was triggered by the [Warsaw] Declaration, but that was just a welcome excuse", as PiS sought to woo the rural-traditional demographic and needed a scapegoat to replace migrants.[14]
In August 2019, the Archbishop of Kraków Marek Jędraszewski said LGBT people were like a "rainbow plague" in a sermon commemorating the Warsaw uprising.[16][17][18] Not long after, a drag queen simulated his murder on stage.[19]
As of 2019, being openly gay in Poland's small towns and rural areas "[takes] increasing physical and mental fortitude" due to the efforts of Polish authorities and the Catholic Church, according to The Telegraph.[7] Public perceptions, however, have been becoming more tolerant of gays, albeit more slowly in rural areas, according to surveys.[7] In 2001 41 percent of Poles surveyed stated gayness should "not be tolerated", whereas in 2017 only 24 percent expressed this opinion and 55 percent said gays should be tolerated.[7]
Declarations
LGBT-free zone motions are made by Polish municipalities,[1][5] Powiats (counties),[6] and Voivodeships (provinces) [7] who declare the regions under their control as free of LGBT "ideology"[8] in reaction to the declaration.[13] While unenforceable, activists say the declared zones represent attempts to exclude the LGBT community.[5][7] Activist Olga Kaczorek called the declarations "a statement saying that a specific kind of people is not welcome there."[5]
In March 2019, the town of Świdnik in eastern Poland passed a resolution rejecting "LGBT ideology".[11]
As of August 2019, around 30 different LGBT-free zones have been declared in Poland, including four Voivodeships in the south-east of the country:[1][2][9][6] Lesser Poland, Podkarpackie, Świętokrzyskie, and Lublin.[2] The four Voivodeships form the "historically conservative" part of Poland.[5]
Powiats adopting such measures include: Białystok County, Jarosław County, Lesko County, Lubaczów County, Mielec County, Puławy County, Ryki County, Świdnik County, Tarnów County, and Zamość County.[3]
Law and Justice party
Ahead of the 2015 Polish parliamentary election, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party took an anti-migrant stance.[1] With migration slowing significantly,[5] in the run-up to the 2019 Polish parliamentary election the party has focused on countering Western "LGBT ideology".[1] PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski labelled migrants as "parasites and protozoa" in 2015, while in 2019 he rebuked the Warsaw mayor's pro-LGBTQ declaration as "an attack on the family and children" and stated that LGBTQ was an "imported" ideology.[7]
After Archbishop Jędraszewski made his speech calling LGBT people a rainbow plague, the Polish minister for aid defended the comments, saying LGBT was an "ideology".[17]
Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro ordered an investigation of Ikea after it fired an employee who expressed homophobic sentiments, which according to The Washington Post, "[kept] the conflict in the news".[1][16]
Stickers
The conservative Gazeta Polska newspaper issued "LGBT-free zone" stickers to readers.[20] The Polish opposition and diplomats, including US ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher, condemned the stickers.[8][21] Gazeta editor in chief Tomasz Sakiewicz replied to the criticism with: "what is happening is the best evidence that LGBT is a totalitarian ideology".[21]
The Warsaw district court ordered that distribution of the stickers should halt pending the resolution of a court case.[22] However Gazeta's editor dismissed the ruling saying it was "fake news" and censorship, and that the paper would continue distributing the stickers.[23] Gazeta continued distribution of the stickers, but modified the decal to read "LGBT Ideology-Free Zone".[22]
In July Polish media chain Empik, the country's largest, refused to stock Gazeta Polska after it issued the stickers.[18]
Pride marches
In Rzeszow, after LGBT activists submitted a request to march in the city, PiS councilors drafted a resolution to make Rzeszow a LGBT-free zone as well as outlaw the event itself.[14] Some 29 requests four counter-demonstrations reached city hall, which led mayor Tadeusz Ferenc, of the opposition Democratic Left Alliance, to ban the march due to security concerns.[14] The ban was then overturned by a court ruling.[14] PiS councilors put forward a resolution outlawing "LGBT ideology", which was defeated by two votes.[14]
Reactions
Support for declarations
Bozena Bierylo, a PiS councilwoman in Białystok, said the legislation in Białystok was required due to LGBT "provocations" and "demands" for sex education instruction.[8]
The national PiS party has encouraged the local declarations, with a PiS official handing out medals in Lublin to local politicians who supported the declarations.[1]
Criticism of declarations
In July 2019, Polish Ombudsman Adam Bodnar state that "the government is increasing homophobic sentiments" with remarks "on the margins of hate speech".[1] Bodnar said he is preparing an appeal to the administrative court against the declarations, as according to Bodnar they are not only political but also have a normative character that affects the lives of people in the declared region.[6][26]
In July 2019, Warsaw city Councillor Marek Szolc and the Polish Society for Anti-Discrimination Law (PTPA) released a legal opinion stating that LGBT-free zone declarations stigmatize and exclude people and are illegal as they violate article 32 of the Constitution of Poland which guarantees equality and lack of discrimination.[27][28][13]
In August 2019, multiple LGBT community members have stated that they feel unsafe in Poland.[17]
The Razem party stated: "Remember how the right [were scared] of the so-called [Muslim] no-go zones? Thanks to the same right, we have our own no-go zones."[29][30]
Liberal politicians and media and rights activists have compared the declarations to Nazi-era declarations of areas being Judenfrei (free of Jews). Left-leaning Italian newspaper la Repubblica called it "a concept that evokes the term 'Judenfrei'".[31][32] Campaign Against Homophobia director Slava Melnyk compared the declarations to "1933, when there were also free zones from a specific group of people."[33] Warsaw's deputy president Paweł Rabiej tweeted, "The German fascists created zones free of Jews. Apartheid, of blacks."[20][25]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Polish towns advocate ‘LGBT-free’ zones while the ruling party cheers them on, Washington Post, 21 July 2019, reprint at Independent
- ^ a b c d e The Krakow municipality responds to the homophobic act of "Gazeta Polska", Gazeta Wyborcza (Krakow), 19 July 2019
- ^ a b Where in Poland were the resolutions adopted against "LGBT ideology"?, ONET, 23 July 2019
- ^ Outrage over ‘LGBTQ-free zone’ stickers distributed by Polish magazine, New York Daily News, 25 July 2019
- ^ a b c d e f g Why 'LGBT-free zones' are on the rise in Poland, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 27 July 2019
- ^ a b c d e Bodnar: I'm preparing to appeal against resolutions banning LGBT ideology, TVN24, 22 July 2019
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Polish ruling party whips up LGBTQ hatred ahead of elections amid 'gay-free' zones and Pride march attacks, Telegraph, 9 August 2019
- ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference
NYT20190727
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Figlerowicz, Marta (August 9, 2019). "The New Threat to Poland's Sexual Minorities". ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
- ^ "Pride and prejudice: Poland at war over gay rights before vote". South China Morning Post. 2019-08-09. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
- ^ a b Polish towns go 'LGBT free' ahead of bitter European election campaign, Reuters, Marcin Goclowski & Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, 21 May 2019
- ^ Roache, Madeline (July 3, 2019). "Poland Is Holding Massive Pride Parades. But How Far Have LGBTQ Rights Really Come?". Time. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ a b c PTPA press release and legal opinion, Polish Society for Anti-Discrimination Law, 19 July 2019
- ^ a b c d e f g h i ‘FOREIGN IDEOLOGY’: POLAND’S POPULISTS TARGET LGBT RIGHTS, Claudia Ciobanu, Balkan Insight, 26 June 2019
- ^ a b LGBT Virgin Mary triggers Polish activist's detention, BBC, 14 May 2019
- ^ a b Poland’s ruling party fuels anti-LGBT sentiment ahead of elections, Financial Times, 11 August 2019
- ^ a b c Activists warn Poland’s LGBT community is 'under attack', Euronews, 8 August 2019
- ^ a b Luxmoore, Jonathan (August 19, 2019). "Church in Poland continues confrontation with the LGBTQ community". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
{{cite web}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=
(help) - ^ "Drag queen "symulował zabójstwo" Jędraszewskiego. KEP i RPO komentują kontrowersyjny występ". www.rmf24.pl (in Polish). August 14, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
{{cite web}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=
(help) - ^ a b Polish newspaper to issue 'LGBT-free zone' stickers, BBC, 18 July 2019
- ^ a b Conservative Polish magazine issues 'LGBT-free zone' stickers, Reuters, 24 July 2019
- ^ a b Polish Court Rebukes “LGBT-Free Zone” Stickers, HRW, 1 August 2019
- ^ Polish magazine dismisses court ruling on ‘LGBT-free zone’ stickers, Politico, 26 July 2019
- ^ Polish magazine distributed stickers "LGBT-free zone", queer.de, 18 July 2019
- ^ a b Polish magazine criticized for planning 'LGBT-free zone' stickers, NBC News, Tim Fitzsimons 19 July 2019, quote: "While conservative social media users cheered the move on Twitter and on Facebook, many liberal Poles connected the effort to create “LGBT-free” zones to Nazi efforts to create zones free of Jews."
- ^ Right-wing Polish magazine issues anti-LGBT stickers, Bangkok Post, 24 July 2019
- ^ Local governments adopt resolutions aimed at LGBT communities, TVN24, 25 July 2019
- ^ The laws of "LGBT free" regions are unlawful, 22 July 2019, Queer.pl
- ^ Polish newspaper is handing out 'LGBT-free zone' stickers, 18 July 2019, Gay Star News
- ^ "Gazeta Polska" drukuje naklejki "Strefa wolna od LGBT". "Czy ktoś w redakcji słyszał o nazistach?", gazeta.pl, 17 July 2019
- ^ Poland, beatings and insults to the gay pride of Bialystok, la Repubblica, 21 July 2019
- ^ RPO on the "LGBT Free Zone": Poland is facing discrimination in the services market, Rzeczpospolita, 5 August 2019
- ^ The newspaper promotes stickers with the words "LGBT free zone". US ambassador "disappointed and worried", TVN24, Magda Łucyan, 19 July 2019