LGBT ideology free zone

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Map of Poland with the "LGBT-ideology-free zones" (as of January 2020) marked in red.

An LGBT-ideology-free zone ( Polish Strefa wolna od ideologii LGBT ) also referred to as "LGBT-free zone" is a region defined by a Polish municipality, a powiat ( district ), or a voivodeship (a province ) as "free from LGBT -Ideology "was declared.

While these zones are not legally enforceable, LGBT is not an ideology, and the declaration is primarily symbolic, activists say they represent an attempt to stigmatize and exclude the LGBT community. By January 2020, around 80 different declarations on “LGBT ideology-free zones” had been issued in Poland, including four voivodeships in the south-east and in the center of the country: Lesser Poland , Subcarpathian , Świętokrzyskie and Lublin .

On December 18, 2019, the European Parliament voted 463 to 107 in favor of condemning these zones.

background

Demonstration for Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski . The sign reads: "Away with left ideological totalitarianism". The rainbow flag is crossed out, above it the word “precz” (Eng. About “away”, “out”).

In February 2019, Warsaw's liberal Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski signed a declaration in support of LGBTQ rights and announced his intention to follow World Health Organization guidelines and incorporate LGBT issues into sex education curricula in Warsaw schools. Politicians of the PiS party reject the sex education program on the grounds that it would sexualise children. The leader of the PiS, Jarosław Kaczyński, responded to the statement and called LGBT rights “an import” that threatens Poland. The statement has "incited and mobilized" conservative politicians and conservative media in Poland, according to The Daily Telegraph . The proclamation "LGBT ideology-free zones" is considered a reaction to the Warsaw Declaration. According to the Daily Telegraph , the conservative establishment fears a liberal transition that could undermine the power of the Catholic Church in Poland in a manner similar to what happened in the Irish Catholic Church . Declining church attendance, increasing secularization and Andalusian abuse scandals have put pressure on the conservative position. In May 2019, the Polish police arrested civil rights activist Elżbieta Podleśna after posting rainbow-colored posters of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa for offending religious sentiments , which is illegal in Poland. Also in May, two weeks before the European Parliament elections , a documentary on child sexual abuse in the Church was released online. The documentary was supposed to violate the church-affiliated PiS in the elections, prompting PiS chairman Kaczyński to omit how the Polish nation and children are attacked by “deviant foreign ideas”, which led conservative voters to vote for the PiS crowd. According to feminist scholar Agnieszka Graff, "the attack on LGBT people was triggered by the Warsaw Declaration, but that was just a welcome excuse" as the PiS is trying to woo the rural-traditional population and need a scapegoat to replace the migrants ".

In August 2019, the Archbishop of Kraków , Marek Jędraszewski , said in a sermon commemorating the Warsaw Uprising that “LGBT ideology” is like “rainbow plague”. Not long after, a drag queen simulated his murder on stage.

As of 2019, "being openly gay in Poland's small towns and rural areas will require increasing physical and mental strength due to the efforts of Polish authorities and the Catholic Church, " according to the Telegraph. However, public perception has become more tolerant of gays. In 2001, 41 percent of the Poles surveyed said that “being gay is not normal and should not be tolerated”, while in 2017 only 24 percent of those surveyed said this. In 2001, 5 percent agreed with the statement "Being gay is normal", while in 2017 this was already 16 percent.

Declarations

"LGBT ideology" -free zones are proclaimed by Polish municipalities, counties , and voivodships and, in response to the Warsaw Declaration, are designated as "free of" LGBT ideology ". Although they are not enforceable, activists consider this to be attempts to exclude the local LGBT community from social life, activist Olga Kaczorek called the declarations "a declaration that a certain type of people is not welcome there".

In March 2019, the city of Świdnik in Eastern Poland passed a resolution rejecting the “LGBT ideology”.

By August 2019, around 30 different LGBT ideology-free zones had been declared in Poland, including four voivodeships in the south-east of the country: Lesser Poland , Subcarpathian , Świętokrzyskie , and Lublin Voivodeship . these four voivodships form the “historical-conservative” part of Poland.

The counties that have taken these measures include the Powiat Białystok , Powiat Jarosław , Powiat Lesko , Powiat Lubaczów , Powiat Mielec , Powiat Puławy , Powiat Ryki , Powiat Świdnik , Powiat Tarnów and Powiat Zamość .

Party PiS

In the run-up to the Polish parliamentary elections in 2015 , the ruling PiS party had adopted an anti-immigrant stance. As migration slowed significantly, the party focused on counteracting Western “LGBT ideology” in the run-up to the Polish parliamentary elections in 2019. In 2015, party leader Jarosław Kaczyński described migrants as “ parasites and protozoa ”, and in 2019 rebuked the Warsaw mayor's pro-LGBTQ statement as an “attack on family and children” and labeled LGBTQ as an “imported” ideology.

After Archbishop Jędraszewski described the “LGBT ideology” as the “rainbow disease ” in his sermon, the Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak defended the comments.

In June 2019, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro ordered an investigation into Ikea after the company fired an employee who made homophobic statements.

Sticker

“LGBT-Free Zone” sticker distributed by Gazeta Polska

The conservative newspaper Gazeta Polska issued “LGBT-Free Zone” stickers to readers. The Polish opposition and diplomats, including the US ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher , condemned the stickers. The newspaper's editor-in-chief, Tomasz Sakiewicz , responded to the criticism with "What is happening here is the best evidence that LGBT is a totalitarian ideology".

The Warsaw District Court ordered that the distribution of the stickers should cease pending legal proceedings. However, the editor of Gazeta Polska dismissed the verdict, saying it was "fake news" and "censorship" and said the newspaper would continue distributing the stickers. Gazeta Polska continued to distribute the stickers, but changed the decal so that it is now called “LGBT ideology-free zone”.

In July, the Polish media chain Empik, the largest in the country, refused to offer Gazeta Polska after the stickers had been issued. In August 2019, an American Gazeta Polska Community show scheduled for October 24 at Carnegie Hall in New York was canceled after complaints about anti-LGBT relationships led artists to withdraw from the show.

Demonstrations

The equality march in June 2019 in Rzeszów (the counterpart to the German “eu” Czech CSD ).
Nationalists protest against the equality march in Rzeszów in June 2019

After LGBT activists in Rzeszów submitted an application to hold a Gay Pride (similar to the German CSD ), the PiS council members drafted a resolution to make Rzeszów an "LGBT-free zone" and to ban the event itself. About 29 requests for counter-demonstrations reached the town hall, which led mayor Tadeusz Ferenc of the opposition Democratic Left Alliance to ban the march for security reasons. The ban was then lifted by a court order. The PiS council members proposed a resolution banning “LGBT ideology”, which was rejected with only two votes.

After the violent events at the first Pride in Białystok in July 2019, during which around a thousand protesters from thousands of right-wing groups and ultra- football fans faced violent attacks, and the stickers of Gazeta Polska, took place on July 23, 2019 in Gdansk held a demonstration with the slogan "Zonenfrei Zone" (Polish: Strefa wolna od stref ) for more tolerance. In Łódź there was a demonstration under the slogan “Hate Free Zone” (Polish: Strefa wolna od nienawiści ) and left-wing politicians distributed “Hate Free Zone” stickers.

Legal proceedings

In July 2020, two Polish district courts declared municipal decrees in the villages of Istebna in the Silesian region and Klwów in the Mazovia region to be invalid and repealed "LGBT-free zones" in these places. The judgments can still be appealed and initially have no effect on the other resolutions.

Rejection of municipal funding applications by the EU

In July 2020, EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen emphasized the equality of sexual minorities and explained why several financial funding applications from Polish municipalities had been rejected by the EU in the previous months because of the LGBT-ideology-free zones.

Reactions

Support for the declarations

Bożena Bieryło, a PiS councilor in the Białystok district , said legislation in her district was needed due to LGBT "provocations" and "demands" for sex education classes .

The PiS party supported the local declarations, including with a PiS official in Lublin handing medals to local politicians who supported the declarations.

Criticism of the declarations

In July 2019, the Polish ombudsman Adam Bodnar stated that “the government was reinforcing homophobic sentiments” with comments “on the verge of hate speech”. Bodnar is ready to appeal to the Polish administrative court against the declarations, as, according to Bodnar, they are not only political but also have a normative character that affects the lives of people in the declared region.

In July 2019, Warsaw City Councilor Marek Szolc and the Polish Society for Anti-Discrimination Law (PTPA) published a legal opinion stating that the LGBT-Free Zone declarations stigmatize and exclude people and, since they violate Article 32 of the Polish Constitution , equality and guaranteed non-discrimination, thus being illegal.

In August 2019, several members of the LGBT community stated that they felt unsafe in Poland.

The Razem Party stated, “Do you remember how the right-wing feared the so-called [Muslim] no-go zones ? Thanks to the same right, we have our own no-go zones ”.

Liberal politicians, media and human rights activists have compared the statements with statements from the time of National Socialism that the areas are " free of Jews ". The Italian newspaper La Repubblica called it "a concept that evokes the term 'Jew-free'". The director of the Polish organization Campaign Against Homophobia, Slava Melnyk , compared the statements with "1933, when there were also zones free from a certain group of people". The Deputy Mayor of Warsaw Paweł Rabiej tweeted: “The German fascists created zones free of Jews. Apartheid, of blacks. ", German" The German fascists created zones free of Jews. Apartheid black-free. ”.

On December 18, 2019, the European Parliament (EP) voted 463 against 107 in favor of disapproving the LGBT-free zones in Poland. It called on "the Polish authorities to condemn these acts and to repeal all resolutions attacking LGBT rights". According to the EP, the zones are part of “a broader context of attacks against the LGBT community in Poland, including growing hate speech by public and elected officials and the public media, as well as attacks on Pride marches and their bans such as the Rainbow Fridays campaign ' belong.". Among other things, the AfD opposed this decision and “congratulates” the Polish government on taking “the protection of our children seriously” and protecting them from a “disgusting left-wing, perverse ideology”. In addition, it is not the “European peoples” who are homophobic, but “the culture that we [...] import into Europe”.

In April 2020 the Lesbian and Gay Association in Germany wrote an open letter to a total of more than 300 German municipalities and cities that have a partnership with Polish municipalities and asked them if a municipality has joined the "movement" or wants to join to rethink the "way of working together". The city of Schwerte then suspended a partnership with the Polish city of Nowy Sacz that had existed since 1984 at IDAHOBIT 2020 . The municipality of Tarnów was a partner municipality of the Bavarian district of Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm . Since Tarnów declared itself an “LGBT-free zone” in 2019, the partnership was interrupted in 2020. The local district parliamentary group of the AfD turned against this suspension and described it as interference in "internal affairs of the Tarnów district".

affected areas

Polish cities, municipalities, counties, provinces and their international partnerships
Partnership with
declaration Voted Belgium Germany France Netherlands
Biała Podlaska Yes 06/18/2019 - Oberhavel district
Bukowina Tatrzańska Yes December 19, 2019 - -
Dębica Yes 09/17/2019 Puurs -
Gromadka Yes 11/27/2019 - -
Gromnik Yes 09/27/2019 - -
Istebna yes (repealed by the district court in July 2020) 02.09.2019 - -
Jedlnia-Letnisko Yes 23/10/2019 - -
Jordanów Yes 05/30/2019 - -
Klwów yes (repealed by the district court in July 2020) 06/17/2019 - -
Kobyłka Yes October 21, 2019
Końskowola Yes 06/26/2019
Kraśnik Yes 05/30/2019 Ruiselede Nogent-sur-Oise
Krzynowłoga Mała Yes 08/05/2019
Lipinki Yes 04/12/2019
Łopuszno Yes 06/28/2019
Łososina Dolna Yes 05/30/2019
Mełgiew Yes March 27, 2019
Mielec Yes 09/26/2019 Wages
Mordy Yes March 29, 2019
Moszczenica Yes 08/10/2019 -
Niebylec Yes 09/25/2019
Niederzwica Duża Yes 05/28/2019
Nowa Dęba Yes 07/26/2019
Nowa Sarzyna Yes October 28, 2019
Nowy Sącz Yes November 19, 2019 Swords (exposed)
Odrzywół Yes 01/30/2020 -
Opole Lubelskie Yes 11/28/2019 Hamme
Osiek Yes October 31, 2019
Ostrów Lubelski Yes March 27, 2019
Potworów Yes 12/30/2019
Przasnysz Yes 06/18/2019
Przemyśl Yes 08/26/2019 Paderborn
Przeworsk Yes 06/26/2019
Puławy Yes 05/30/2019 Stendal Douai (exposed) Nieuwegein (finished)
Radzyń Podlaski Yes 05/17/2019
Radzyń Podlaski Yes 05/22/2019
Rypin Yes 23/10/2019
Serniki Yes June 21, 2019
Skierniewice Yes 09/27/2019
Stary Sącz Yes 09/30/2019
Świdnik Yes March 28, 2019
Szczytniki Yes 05/09/2019
Szerzyny Yes 06/04/2019
Tarnów Pfaffenhofen district from the Ilm (suspended)
Tomaszów Mazowiecki Yes October 31, 2019
Trzebieszów Yes 06/18/2019
Tuchów Yes 05/29/2019 Illingen (Saar)
Tuszów Narodowy Yes March 29, 2019
Urzędów Yes March 28, 2019
Wieluń Yes 07/17/2019 Osterburg , Adelebsen , Ochtrup
Wilamowice Yes 10/30/2019
Wilkołaz Yes 04/30/2019
Żabno Yes 10/30/2019 Bad Berka (Thuringia)
Zakrzówek Yes 05/08/2019 Malls
Zamość Yes 08/26/2019
Zarzecze Yes July 25, 2019

See also: atlasnienawisci.pl, a map showing the areas that have signed a declaration.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Polish towns advocate 'LGBT ideology-free' zones while the ruling party cheers them on. In: The Washington Post. July 21, 2019, accessed May 14, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c Krakowski magistrate odpowiada na homofobiczny act "Gazety Polskiej". In: Gazeta Wyborcza . July 19, 2019, accessed May 14, 2020 (Polish).
  3. ↑ a b Gdzie w Polsce przyjęto uchwały przeciw "ideologii LGBT"? ONET, July 23, 2019, accessed May 14, 2020 (Polish).
  4. ↑ a b c Marta Figlerowicz: The New Threat to Poland's Sexual Minorities. September 9, 2019, Retrieved August 19, 2019 (American English).
  5. ^ Biuletyny Informacji Publicznej - Urząd Marszałkowski Województwa Lubelskiego w Lublinie. In: bip.malopolska.pl. Retrieved on February 26, 2020 (Polish): “Declaration No. 1/19 of the Lesser Poland Regional Assembly of 29 April 2019 on opposition to the introduction of the "LGBT" ideology in local government communities "
  6. ↑ a b c d e f Why 'LGBT-free zones' are on the rise in Poland. CBC , July 27, 2019, accessed May 14, 2020 .
  7. ↑ a b c d e Adam Bodnar: przygotowuję się do zaskarżenia uchwał w sprawie ideologii LGBT. In: TVN24 . July 22, 2019, accessed May 14, 2020 (Polish).
  8. ^ A b c d Anti-Gay Brutality in a Polish Town Blamed on Poisonous Propaganda. In: The New York Times. July 27, 2019, accessed May 14, 2020 .
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  34. ↑ CARNEGIE HALL CONCERT LINKED TO ANTI-LGBT MAGAZINE CANCELED , Newsweek, Jake Maher, August 26, 2019.
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  41. ^ Solidarni z Białymstokiem. Marsze, zbiórki i # TęczowaŚroda. In: Polityka . July 23, 2019, accessed May 14, 2020 (Polish).
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  65. ^ Pfaffenhofen: partnership put on hold until further notice. Retrieved June 19, 2020 .
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