The origins of the Polish LGBT rights movement can be traced back to the 1980s, when activists met informally to produce and distribute self-published newsletters written in Polish, and to organise covert activities. Organisers were able to move out of the shadows only after 1989, after the fall of the Communist regime. The first recognised LGBT organisation was created in 1990 in Warsaw, and was called Stowarzyszenie Grup Lambda (The Association of Lambda Groups). During the 1990s, however, Lambda did not support any forms of public activism because the organizers were afraid of the consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n The situation seemed to change for the better in 2001, when <\/span>Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej<\/span><\/i> (The Alliance of the Democratic Left) won federal elections and took power in Poland. During the electoral campaign, the party had promised to introduce a same-sex partnership bill and antidiscrimination protection for sexual minorities. It was in the wake of these promises that Warsaw saw its first <\/span>Parada R\u00f3wno\u015bci<\/span><\/i>, a \u201cParade of Equality\u201d in 2001 and again in 2002 and 2003, each time with more and more participants.<\/span><\/p>\n However, the situation for Polish LGBT citizens worsened rapidly beginning in 2004, when right-wing parties took power and nationalist sentiments started to spread throughout the country in response to Poland\u2019s accession to the European Union. From 2004 onwards, LGBT marches and demonstrations were attacked by protesters and even cancelled by authorities. Lech Kaczynski, then-mayor of Warsaw, banned the <\/span>Parada R\u00f3wno\u015bci<\/span><\/i> in 2004 and 2005. From 2005 to 2007, Poland was\u00a0 led by its most nationalistic, populist government since the fall of communism, which made the so-called \u201cLGBT lobby\u201d their target.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite the unfavourable political environment, the organizers of the Parades of Equality continued to plan the annual event, and decided to fight back against the governmental bans. The three major LGBT rights associations (<\/span>ILGCN-Poland<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Lambda Warszawa<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>KPH<\/span><\/i>)<\/span> grouped together to establish <\/span>Fundacja R\u00f3wno\u015bci<\/span><\/i> (the Equality Foundation) and mounted legal challenges against the parade bans. The suits were successful, and the Equality Marches in Pozna\u0144 and Warsaw could take place from 2006 onwards. Since 2007, the number of LGBT rights activists has increased and the Polish movement is nowadays one of the best-organised and -developed in the post-communist region.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2010, Warsaw hosted EuroPride, the first EuroPride to be held in a post-communist country. The event was extremely successful and saw the participation of international supporters as well as of some Polish representatives. Moreover, <\/span>Gazeta Wyborcza<\/span><\/i>, an important Polish newspaper, supported the event by writing about the Parade and relevant LGBT issues, and by publishing a four-page insert in Polish and English which was distributed for free on the day of the Parade.<\/span><\/p>\n However, institutionalised homophobia has increased since 2015, when <\/span>Prawo i Sprawiedliwo\u015b\u0107<\/span><\/i> (the Law and Justice Party) became the majority party in government. Government propaganda shifted considerably from anti-immigration stances, prior to 2015, to anti-LGBT declarations. One of the possible reasons for such a shift is that immigration is not perceived as a huge threat by the Polish people. However, anti-LGBT declarations are uttered constantly by Polish politicians, heavily supported by members of the Polish Catholic Church, and they have a huge impact on the population. Moreover, <\/span>in 2016, <\/span>parliament rejected<\/span><\/a> a bill that would have included gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and age as potential grounds for hate crime protections.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n 2019 was a critical year for Polish LGBT citizens. In February, Rafa\u0142 Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw, signed a declaration supporting LGBT rights. The declaration, which follows the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO), identifies five pillars: safety, education, culture and sports, workplace, and administration, and sets out practical steps such as establishing a community centre, launching a crisis hotline, and introducing anti-discrimination classes in all Warsaw schools.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, PiS, Poland\u2019s governing party at the federal level, condemned the act. Jaros\u0142aw Kaczy\u0144ski, the PiS party leader, declared that \u201cThese [LGBT rights] ideologies , philosophies, all of this is imported, these are not internal Polish mechanisms\u201d in a conference organised by Catholic Action in April 2019. \u201cThey are a threat to Polish identity, to our nation, to its existence and thus to the Polish state\u201d. Moreover, Kaczy\u0144ski urged Poles to vote for his party by saying that PiS is the only political party that guarantees the protection of Polish traditional values.<\/span><\/p>\n After Trzaskowski\u2019s declaration in February 2019, several Polish towns and cities reacted by declaring themselves <\/span>strefa wolna od LGBT<\/span><\/i> (LGBT-free zones), starting with Swidnik, a town in Eastern Poland. The LGBT-free zone designation is not legally binding, and the practice has been condemned by the European Council. However, the zones have been supported by many people: the city of Lublin, for example, presented awards to local officials who opposed the \u201cLGBT ideology\u201d; and the first Equality March in Bia\u0142ystok, with around 1,000 participants, was violently attacked by groups of extremists who burned flags, threw smoke bombs, bottles, and rotten eggs at the participants; and injured and assaulted several people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In August 2019, 30 LGBT-free zones were declared in Poland, in four <\/span>voivodeships <\/span><\/i>(provinces) \u2013 <\/span>Ma\u0142opolskie<\/span><\/i> (including Krakow), <\/span>Podkarpackie<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>\u015awi\u0119tokrzyskie,<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Lubelskie<\/span><\/i>. As of now, LGBT-free zones have increased to around 90 areas, representing one-third of the whole country:<\/span><\/p>\n Image credit: Bart Staszewski via Twitter<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Moreover, <\/span>Gazeta Polska<\/span><\/i>, a Polish news magazine that openly supports PiS, published anti-LGBT stickers showing a big, black cross over a rainbow flag together with the slogan <\/span>strefa wolna od LGBT<\/span><\/i>. The decision of the magazine was heavily criticised and <\/span>Pawe\u0142 Rabiej, deputy mayor of Warsaw, filed a complaint about the stickers to the prosecutor’s office.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGerman fascists created Jew-free zones\u201d, he tweeted.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite several difficulties, an increasing number of parades have been organised over the years, making Poland more and more colourful:<\/span><\/p>\n Image credit: Maciej Pokrzywa via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Marsz R\u00f3wno\u015bci <\/span><\/i>means \u201cEquality March\u201d. I think that there is something delicate about a title that stresses <\/span>equality<\/span><\/i> over <\/span>pride<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>Wroc\u0142aw <\/span>has been the fourth city to organise a <\/span>Marsz R\u00f3wno\u015bci<\/span><\/i>, after Warsaw, Krak\u00f3w, and Pozna\u0144, and in 2019 the March was organised for the 11th time.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>As every year, we invite you to Wroc\u0142aw for the rainbow celebration of the LGBTI community and its allies! We meet at <\/span>Plac Wolno\u015bci<\/span><\/i> (Freedom Square) to express our solidarity with the postulates of equality and respect for all. The space of the Equality March is friendly, safe, and open to all people. We dream of a Polish society that is open, accepting, civil, and appreciative of diversity. But this will not be achieved by itself: we have to stand against the violence of the powerful, against the growing hatred and aggression, as our opposition is extremely meaningful and leads to concrete, tangible results. Let there be more of us, because there are more people of good will!<\/span>\u201d With these inclusive words, the members of NGO <\/span>Kultura Rowno\u015bci<\/span><\/i> (Culture of Equality) officially invited everyone to the Equality March in <\/span>Wroc\u0142aw<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n With the support of Wroc\u0142aw\u2019s mayor, Jacek Sutryk, the <\/span>Marsz R\u00f3wno\u015bci<\/span><\/i> took place in the afternoon of 5 October 2019. The first thing I noticed when I gathered in <\/span>Plac Wolno\u015bci<\/span><\/i> was the amount of police surrounding the whole square. It felt intimidating to walk through a human barrier dressed in black just to step onto Freedom Square. The police were there to ensure the safety of the participants, a fact which some of the organizers of <\/span>Marsz R\u00f3wno\u015bci<\/span><\/i> underlined several times before the March began.<\/span><\/p>\n The police were dressed in black, the sky was grey, and rain dribbled down, but\u00a0 the character of the March was joyous. Rainbow flags, rainbow umbrellas, and colourful jackets could be seen everywhere, and we could easily breathe the joyful atmosphere in the air.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lossi36.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/map-of-lgbt-free-zones-990x1024.jpg\")
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