Anti-LGBTQIA acts that Trump is normalizing in America, Poland is planning to deal with.
In Poland, the justice ministry approved plans to add sexual orientation, gender, age and disability to the categories covered by the country’s hate crime laws.
Currently, Polish law makes “public insult based on national, ethnic, racial or religious affiliation” a crime that is punishable by up to three years in prison. But now, the justice ministry hopes to update the regulations to also penalize discrimination based on disability, age, sex/gender (płeć in Polish, which can be translated as either English word) or sexual orientation. This is because “these provisions do not provide sufficient protection for all minority groups who are particularly vulnerable to discrimination, prejudice and violence”.
It therefore wants to broaden the categories to also meet international recommendations on standards of protection against hate speech and hate crimes.
Będą kary za homofobiczną mowę nienawiści? Rząd przyjął zmiany w kodeksie karnym. #LGBTQ @MS_GOV_PL https://t.co/pTcFZN1XWT
— OKO.press (@oko_press) November 28, 2024
Those who will be found guilty of such offenses can face jail terms of up to three years. Meanwhile, cases of violence and unlawful threats can carry up to a five-year jail term.
Where it stands: The government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk already approved the draft legislation. It is now headed to the parliament for approval. If the parliament passes it, Polish president Andrzej Duda can sign the bill into law, veto it or pass it to the constitutional court for assessment. But it is worth stressing that Duda is openly anti-LGBTQIA. During his re-election campaign in 2020, he referred to “LGBT ideology” as “evil”.
