Culture

Activists in Scotland Protest Poland’s LGBTQ+ Crackdown With Rainbow Flags


 

Polish people living in Scotland are speaking out against a brutal crackdown on LGBTQ+ citizens in their home country, with a vibrant protest taking place outside the Polish consulate this week in Edinburgh.

In recent months, homophobic attacks — sometimes from elected officials — have been on the rise in Poland, particularly in the runup to the July election. But at the August 10 protest in Scotland, protestors expressed outrage by flying flags, waving banners, and draping rainbow flags across each other. Protestors wore colorful masks and held signs calling for an end to homophobia.

The demonstration was the second of its kind in recent weeks, according to the local news outlet Edinburgh Live. The action does not appear to have been affiliated with any LGBTQ+ groups or activist organizations.

In a statement posted on Facebook prior to the event, protesters expressed solidarity with persecuted LGBTQ+ people in Poland. “The Polish government attacks members of the [LGBTQ+] community, openly promotes homophobia and transphobia, encourages violence against [LGBTQ+] people and itself uses unlawful and brutal violence, ordering police to target activists,” organizers said.

The demonstrations have a personal significance for Edinburgh, which is the sibling city of Krakow, Poland’s second largest city. The partnership was established in 1994, but earlier this year, Krakow leaders declared their city to be an “LGBT-free zone,” along with a third of Polish cities and counties.

Many European cities that were formerly partnered with Polish municipalities are now cutting ties with their former siblings or asking them to express opposition to the worsening situation in the eastern European country.

Last week Poland’s homophobic president, Andrezj Duda, was sworn in after winning reelection. Duda’s campaign was rife with anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment: He proposed that the country’s constitution be changed to ban same-sex couples from adopting and called LGBTQ+ equality a “foreign ideology.” When Duda met with Donald Trump several months ago, Trump affirmed Duda’s anti-LGBTQ+ positions, saying that “he’s doing a terrific job.”

The election was accompanied by widespread protests by Polish civil rights groups, provoking an aggressive police response. After nonbinary activist Margot Szutowicz draped rainbow flags over five statues in Warsaw, police rushed in to arrest them.

Nearly 50 others were taken into custody for trying to block Szutowicz’s arrest.

The activists rounded up in that mass protest could face several years in prison, but critics say they were innocent bystanders or journalists reporting on the events, according to Human Rights Watch. Police claim that they only arrested the most violent protests, but their own surveillance footage shows the individuals apprehended were nonviolent.

The intense police response to the protests in Poland has led some to compare the recent activity to the 1969 Stonewall riots, with the hashtag #PolishStonewall trending on Twitter over the past week. But Poland has experienced several months — and in some places, years — of repeated, scattered incidents of discrimination and violence by authorities. That includes attacks on Pride parades by right-wing extremists, religious leaders calling to crackdown on queer activism, and an overall increase in anti-LGBTQ+ hate.

More recently, a gay man was beaten at a popular beach in the town of Poznań on Tuesday. Miłosz Miklaszewski was chased, beaten with a baton, taunted with anti-gay slurs, and robbed.

Amid the ongoing crisis affecting Poland’s LGBTQ+ community, citizens and local leaders are taking a stand against violent homophobia. During Duda’s swearing-in, a group of legislators coordinated their outfits to form a large rainbow flag during the ceremony. Elsewhere in the country, citizens distributed rainbow COVID-19 masks to demonstrate support for LGBTQ+ people.

Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for our weekly newsletter here.



READ NEWS SOURCE

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.