Treatment of LGBT people in Poland

by Brother Bimbo del Doppio Senso, OPI

Poland: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people have been suffering increasing official harassment and police violence, and religion is being used as an excuse. A May 2005 protest supporting equal treatment was banned by the Mayor of Warsaw, now Poland's president, on the grounds that it was sexually obscene and offensive to other people's religious feelings.

The improvised parade still took place on 10 June, gathering more than 2,500 participants. Less than a week after that, the mayor authorized the so-called normality parade, during which members of the All Polish Youth reportedly demonstrated on the streets of Warsaw and shouted slogans inciting intolerance and homophobia...

During the year other political figures were also reported to have made openly homophobic statements, including that that if a homosexual tries to infect others with their homosexuality, then the state must intervene in this violation of freedom, calling for no tolerance for homosexuals and deviants and: Let's not mistake the brutal propaganda of homosexual attitudes for calls for tolerance. For them our rule will indeed mean a dark night.

Prime Minister Kasimierz Marcinkiewicz, an extremist Roman Catholic, is responsible for some of these statements.

More recently, a march for Equality in Posnań was disrupted by police who assaulted and arrested over 60 peaceful demonstrators. A counter-demonstration was ignored.

They were reportedly harassed and intimidated by members of a right-wing grouping known as All Polish Youth (Młodzież Wszechpolska), who allegedly shouted Let's gas the fags and We'll do to you what Hitler did with Jews.

All of this is illegal under international law. Poland is a signatory to two treaties which guarantee that all individuals enjoy human rights without discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The European Commission has already written a strongly-worded letter criticising the Polish government, and noting that under the Treaty of Nice, the country could lose its voting rights in the European Union. Nothing has been done since October though, and the violations have continued. So, Lisette, a voluntary LGBT activist, has set up a pledge at Pledgebank.

I will send a protest statement to the European Commission to protest against discrimination of LGBT people in Poland and demand that the Commission pays more attention to these issues. but only if 100 other people will do the same and sign their name here after sending the protest mail to: cab-archive-barrot@cec.eu.int.

I have done so, and the news links below provide a lot more information about sepcific examples upon which you might wish to comment. Citizens of the United States might like to note that the US State Department has had preceisely nothing to say about Poland's violations of international law, and has taken no action whatsoever.

I will send a protest statement to the European Commission...—Pledgebank pledge, expires 31st December 2005; Polish Gays Fighting Back—Gay City News, 1st-7th December 2005; Poland: LGBT rights under attack—Amnesty International, 25th November 2005; EU Warns Poland On Gays—365Gay.com, 26th October 2005.

Tags: bigotry, Christianity, discrimination, European Commission, European Union, gay rights, homophobia, human rights, lgbt, Poland, religion