LGBTQ-free zone - Misplaced Pages

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It has been suggested that this article be merged into LGBT rights in Poland. (Discuss)

A so-called LGBT-free zone (Template:Lang-pl) is an act by a Polish municipality, or Voivodeship sejmik declaring their respective regions as free of LGBT "ideology". While symbolic, the declared zones signal exclusion of the LGBT community.

As of July 2019, some 30 different LGBT-free zone declarations have been made in Poland, including four Voivodeships in the south-east of the country: Lesser Poland, Podkarpackie, Świętokrzyskie, and Lublin.

Background

In February 2019, Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski's signed a declaration supporting LGBTQ rights. The LGBT-free zone declarations are considered to be a reaction to the Warsaw declaration.

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. Decreasing Church attendance, rising secularization, and priest pedophilia scandals have put pressure on the conservative position.

As of 2019, being openly gay in rural Poland is increasingly difficult due to the efforts of Polish authorities and the Catholic Church. Public perceptions, however, have been changing. In 2001 41 percent of Poles surveyed stated gayness should "not be tolerated", whereas in 2017 24 percent expressed this opinion and 55 percent say gays should be tolerated.

Declarations

LGBT-free zone motions are made by Polish municipalities, and Voivodeship sejmiks who declare the regions under their control as free of LGBT "ideology". While symbolic, the declared zones signal exclusion of the LGBT community.

The declaration of areas as "free" of LGBT people has been compared to the Nazi-era declarations of areas being Judenfrei (free of Jews).

Law and Justice party

While ahead of the 2015 Polish parliamentary election, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party took an anti-migrant stance, in the run-up to the 2019 Polish parliamentary election the party has focused on countering Western "LGBT ideology". PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski infamously labelled migrants as "parasites and protozoa" in 2015, while in 2019 he rebuked Warsaw mayor's pro-LGBTQ declaration as "an attack on the family and children" and stated that LGBTQ was an "imported" ideology.

After Archbishop of Kraków Marek Jędraszewski said LGBT people were like a "rainbow plague" in a sermon commemorating the Warsaw uprising, the Polish minister for aid justified the comments saying LGBT was an "ideology".

Bozena Bierylo, a PiS councilwoman in Białystok, said the legislation in Białystok was required due to LGBT "provocations" and "demands" for sex education instruction.

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. Further whipping up tensions, the Polish Justice Minister has ordered an investigation of Ikea after it fired an employee who expressed homophobic sentiments.

Stickers

The Gazeta Polska newspaper issued "LGBT-free zone" stickers to readers. The Polish opposition and diplomats, including US ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher, condemned the stickers. Gazeta editor in chief Tomasz Sakiewicz replied to the criticism with: "what is happening is the best evidence that LGBT is a totalitarian ideology". The Warsaw district court ordered that distribution of the stickers should halt pending the resolution of a court case. However Gazeta's editor dismissed the ruling saying it was "fake news" and censorship, and that the paper would continue distributing the sticker. Gazeta continued with the distribution of the stickers, but modified the decal to read "LGBT Ideology-Free Zone".

Pride marches

In Kielce, near where Nazis murdered minorities including gays and Jews and where the killing continued after the war in the 1946 Kielce pogrom, activists held the first LGBT+ parade in the city in July 2019.

On 20 July, the first pride parade ever was held in Białystok, a PiS stronghold, that was declared a LGBT-free zone. 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". Wojda also asserted that the march was "foreign" and thanked those who "defend Christian values". The few hundred marchers were violently attacked by a mob of thousands of religious and conservative protesters. Firecrackers were tossed at the marchers, homophobic slogans were chanted, and the marchers were pelted with rocks and bottles. Dozens of marchers were injured. However, 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. Thousands took to the streets in Warsaw to protest the violence in Białystok.

Reactions

According to human rights commissioner Adam Bodnar, "the government is increasing homophobic sentiments" with remarks "on the margins of hate speech".

In August 2019, multiple LGBT community members have stated that they feel unsafe in Poland. The All Out organization launched a campaign to counter the attacks, some 10,000 people signing a petition shortly after the campaign launch.

References

Outrage over ‘LGBTQ-free zone’ stickers distributed by Polish magazine, New York Daily News, 25 July 2019
^ Polish towns advocate ‘LGBT-free’ zones while the ruling party cheers them on, Washington Post, 21 July 2019, reprint at Independent
^ Why 'LGBT-free zones' are on the rise in Poland, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 27 July 2019
^ Polish ruling party whips up LGBTQ hatred ahead of elections amid 'gay-free' zones and Pride march attacks, Telegraph, 9 August 2019
^ Anti-Gay Brutality in a Polish Town Blamed on Poisonous Propaganda, New York Times, 27 July 2019
The Krakow municipality responds to the homophobic act of "Gazeta Polska", Gazeta Wyborcza (Krakow), 19 July 2019
Poland, beatings and insults to the gay pride of Bialystok, la Repubblica, 21 July 2019
Polish magazine distributed stickers "LGBT-free zone", queer.de, 18 July 2019
Poland's LGBT free zones show we have not learnt from history, Attitude, Hugh Kaye, 8 August 2019
The Krakow municipality responds to the homophobic act of "Gazeta Polska", Gazeta Wyborcza (Krakow), 19 July 2019
^ Activists warn Poland’s LGBT community is 'under attack', Euronews, 8 August 2019
Polish newspaper to issue 'LGBT-free zone' stickers, BBC, 18 July 2019
^ Conservative Polish magazine issues 'LGBT-free zone' stickers, Reuters, 24 July 2019
^ 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 city holds first LGBTQ pride parade despite far-right violence, CNN, 21 July 2019

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