Monika Rosa: Living in a LGBT-free Zone
(extract from original piece part of “Free voices - LGBT+ Rights in Eastern Europe)
By Monika Rosa (MP. Member of the Board of the Polish liberal party Nowoczesna, and its leader in Silesia. Member of the Standing Committee of National and Ethnic Minorities. A volunteer and expert of various non-governmental organizations, including Projekt: Polska.)
In the 2021 ILGA-Europe ranking, Poland placed 43rd out of 49 European countries and last among the EU states (Poland scored 13% of the total points)4. Polish law was deemed one of the most homo and transphobic in the EU (before Hungary passed an Act banning the ‘promotion and presentation’ of homosexuality).
In Poland, same-sex partners cannot marry, marriage equality and adoption for same-sex couples raise strong objections from politicians and a large part of society, the law protecting against homo- and transphobic hate attacks is weak, the gender recognition procedure is inhumane, anti-discrimination and sexual education, if there was any, became the enemy number one of the Polish right-wing, and so-called conversion practices are still allowed. Not to mention resolutions discriminating against the LGBTIQ+ community passed by local authorities. In electoral and political campaigns, the LGBTIQ+ community has become an ‘ideology’, and it is fought by the government, Polish President, TVP (Polish television financed from the state budget), as well as chosen Catholic Church hierarchies.
For years (since 2015, the first time I was voted for) as a member of the Sejm (lower chamber of the Parliament), I have been fighting for legal equality regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. This article is based on multiple reports from NGOs fighting for the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community, speeches of the Commissioner for Human Rights, actions of activists, and thanks to many conversations and stories. Thanks to the bills submitted to the Sejm ‘in my time’ and much earlier, when I wasn’t considering such political involvement. The fight for equality in Poland has been going on for years. The number of organisations, people, activities, leaders, parades, marches, manifests, protests, as well as promotional, educational and legal campaigns, etc., is enormous – it is virtually impossible to mention them all.
Even though we reclaimed our freedom of choice and democracy in 1989, the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community are marginalised, ignored or (as it is happening since 2015, when Law and Justice [Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS] became the ruling party) seen as an ‘ideology’ and used in political fights. Until 2015, not much was happening for the LGBTIQ+ community in the legal area, regardless of the ruling party – left, right or centre. However, the last few years of the PiS rule have seen a degradation of the LGBTIQ+ community’s rights to an unprecedented scale in all areas of life.
Unfortunately, since 2015 there has been no chance for any legal change to broaden the human rights sphere. We can only hope for the government to shift and for the LGBTIQ+ community to stop being the aim of persecution by the authorities. We can also fight for positive attitudes, education and society’s understanding of the rights of more than two million Polish citizens (this is the estimated size of the LGBTIQ+ community in Poland).
We can often hear that Poland is a homophobic country. I strongly wish to rectify this opinion – the Polish government, the majority in the Sejm, leaders of national and right-wing media are homophobic. Polish society is much more open and tolerant. Unfortunately, homophobia is allowed in the public and political spheres. And for some politicians and leaders, hate is a reason to be proud.
The situation of transgender people is especially difficult. It is due to a lack of proper legal regulations. Research shows that the knowledge about the situation trans people are in is minimal, which results in a lack of understanding and dislike. They encounter it at home, school and in contact with the administration. The last one can be illustrated by particularly foolish recent words of the Children’s Ombudsman, Mikołaj Pawlak (nominated by PiS), about sexual educators: ‘They catch a child that is shaken and uncared for, give them some kind of drugs to change their gender without their knowledge and agreement from parents and doctors.
LGBT Free Zones
In February 2019, the President of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski signed a declaration supporting the rights of LGBTIQ+ people and announced clear measures to help the community, including the provision of reliable sex education in schools. The declaration met with an immediate reaction from PiS politicians and media. There was talk of depravity and sexualisation of children. In a way, Samorządowa Karta Praw Rodzin (Local Government Charter on the Rights of Families), prepared by the Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture, which openly discriminates against the LGBT+ community, became a response to the Equality Charter. The document has become a model local government resolution, which can be adopted at municipal, county and voivodeship levels.
Encouraged by Church hierarchs, PiS politicians and right-wing organisations, local authorities adopted their versions of charters. In response, a grassroots initiative has been born to collect information about homophobic resolutions and similar lobbying activities of the right wing. That is how Atlas Nienawiści (Hate Atlas) was created. The creators of the Atlas are activists Jakub Gawron, Paulina Pająk, Paweł Preneta and Kamil Maczuga, who have been sued by some local authorities for violating personal rights.
The introduction of ‘LGBT-free zones’ compelled foreign municipalities and towns to sever partnership relations with Polish local authorities. The municipality of Saint-Jean-de-Braye (France) ended its partnership with the municipality of Tuchów, the municipality of Nogent-sur-Oise (France) has suspended its partnership with Kraśnik, Douai (France) has decided to suspend its cooperation with Puławy, the municipality of Fermoy (Ireland) has announced the end of its cooperation with Nowa Dęba, and the German municipality of Schwerte has suspended its cooperation with Nowy Sącz. Similar steps were taken by other local authorities, including Weimar (Germany) in the case of partnership with Zamość and Nieuwegein (the Netherlands) with Puławy. Breaking off partnership relations is not all, as homophobic resolutions and declarations have also led to the loss of funds from the European Union and Norwegian Funds. In July 2020, EU Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli announced that six applications for grants under the City Partnerships programme from the European Commission had been rejected due to discrimina- tion against LGBT+ people. Already in September 2020, Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Soreide stated that entities that have passed resolutions on ‘LGBT-free zones’ would not receive project support from Norwegian funds while the harmful declara- tion is in force. In February 2021, Szlak Karpacki (Carpathian Trail) project from the Podkarpackie voivodeship lost funding from that budget. In Wilamowice municipality, a decision was made to sus- pend funding for the Wilamowska Culture Museum. Five provinces in Poland faced the prospect of losing tens of millions of euros from the EU due to the resolutions. The European Commission expect- ed these resolutions to be repealed – some voivodeships (Septem- ber 2021) repealed or amended them under the pressure of budget take-offs.
The road ahead
More than 30 years after the beginning of Poland’s democratic transformation, the legal situation of the LGBTIQ+ community has changed very little. Several important organisations working for equality have been established (KPH, which celebrates its 20th anniversary, Miłość Nie Wyklucza, Tolerado, Lambda Warszawa, My, Rodzice, Transfuzja, Wiara i Tęcza and many others operating throughout Poland). The Pride Parade in Warsaw used to be heavily protested. Today 50.000 people proudly and peacefully march through the capital. Pride parades take place in towns and cities. On the one hand, we are witnessing increasing openness and activism of communities and allies (including public coming-outs), on the other hand, a rising wave of aggression from politicians and right-wing media.
Years of PiS rule have deeply divided society, and the state media are spewing hatred and propaganda. The role of the new, hopefully, a democratic and civil majority will be to carry out substantive legislative work for equality (legalisation of unions, marriages, gender recognition procedure, etc.) and educational work (in schools, universities and throughout society).
Special emphasis will have to be placed on anti-discrimination education and legislative changes regarding the rights of transgender people. Fortunately, the topic of trans people’s problems has come out of the shadows – in books, media publications and reportages; NGOs are active, adult transgender people and parents of transgender children talk about their experiences.
We, politicians, legislators, teachers, judges, the whole society, have a lot of work to do. Necessary work – because it saves the happiness, health, and lives of two million Polish women and men, people from the LGBTIQ+ community.
