Under fire over LGBT rights, Polish leader blames activist
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Bart Staszewski felt angry and hopeless when local governments in Poland started passing resolutions last year declaring themselves to be free of “LGBT ideology.”
The activist and filmmaker objected to the way conservative officials were using the word “ideology” to describe what he considers a natural desire for people who love each other to be together. At least 100 municipalities or regions, mostly in conservative southeastern Poland, have passed declarations that vowed to keep out “LGBT ideology” or adopted “family charters” that backed heterosexual unions.
“I am just a normal Pole who just wants a good life with my partner and to be able to marry him one day,” the 30-year-old said. “Where is the ideology?”
In response, he settled on a protest around the communities that are now widely referred to as “LGBT-free zones,” a move that has enraged Poland’s conservative, nationalist government as his posts have gone viral.
With Poland under mounting international criticism for its treatment of its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused Staszewski of carrying out a “hoax” that has led some to believe that Poland has a human rights problem.
Morawiecki singled out the activist for rebuke after 50 ambassadors to Poland and foreign representatives published an open letter of solidarity with LGBT people in Poland.
The term “LGBT-free” is sensitive because it carries an association of language used by Nazi Germany to describe areas free of Jews — Judenrein or Judenfrei — after they had been forced out or killed during the Holocaust.
The term, however, was already being used before Staszewski began posting. A pro-government newspaper, Gazeta Polska, printed stickers last summer saying “LGBT-Free Zone” with a rainbow flag crossed out. The European Parliament used it in a December resolution denouncing the Polish municipalities.
Representatives of Poland’s conservative ruling party, Law and Justice, which have sponsored the resolutions, argue they are trying to protect families and their Christian traditions, and say they are not discriminatory because they do not ban anyone from living in the areas.