Hate thrives in parts of Poland, apparently.
Local municipalities in Poland adopted resolutions that are specifically “against LGBT propaganda” or are “pro-family”, thereby creating hostile spaces for non-heterosexual people or those who are not deemed to be for the so-called “natural family”.
According to an “Atlas of Hate” map, a Polish area greater than the size of Hungary has effectively become an “LGBT-free zone” in the heart of Central Europe. Almost 100 municipalities adopted the resolutions (with municipalities starting to pass the first revolutions in March 2019), including five voivodships (the largest administrative unit in Poland) in the southeast of the country, and dozens of counties and other smaller units.
The resolutions are actually non-binding; but these still highlight how a handful of Polish politicians are denouncing of “LGBT ideology” as a “foreign import” that is supposedly threatening the Polish nation and its antiquated Christian values.
One of the resolutions, passed in April 2019 by the local council in Ryki, a town 100 kilometres southeast of Warsaw, states: “In relation to the aggressive homosexual propaganda, promoted and conducted as part of the ideological war by leftist-liberal political circles and ‘LGBT’ groups, which are threatening our fundamental norms and the values of our social and national life, our council adopts the declaration ‘Powiat Rycki free of gender ideology and LGBT.’”
This resolution also states that its purpose is to “defend children, youth, families and Polish schools from sexual depravity and indoctrination, which lead to many pathologies already existing in Western countries, such as accepting pornography, abortion, sexual criminality, the crisis of the family and many others”.
It similarly decries the “promotion of homosexuality” and sexual education in schools, the “early sexualisation of children” promoted by the World Health Organization, the “pressure exercised by homopropaganda” and the “imposition by LGBT activists of… programmes and an ideology leading to the depravation of children”.
Human rights campaigners – including the European Parliament – have condemned the resolutions, saying they are discriminatory and undermine LGBTQIA rights.
