Six Polish towns have been deemed ineligible for funding under a European Union grant program after declaring themselves “LGBT-free zones.”
Every year, the E.U. allows cities located in its 27 member countries to apply for what’s known as its “town twinning” program, in which applicants are paired with a sister city. According to the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, the partnership allows the metropolitan areas “to concentrate on common issues which can sometimes be very specific, such as water management, economic development, or the improvement of social services.”
Last Thursday, E.U. Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli announced that the applications from a half dozen towns in Poland had been rejected after adopting resolutions opposing the alleged spread of LGBTQ+ ideology. Some municipalities also passed declarations favoring “family rights.”
“E.U. values and fundamental rights must be respected by Member States and state authorities,” Dalli wrote on Twitter.
According to the New York Times, the impacted towns will lose between $6,000 to $29,000 in funding as a result of being banned from the program. Dalli did not state which metropolitan areas had been rejected as sister cities. The Times reported that nearly 100 municipalities had said they are “free from L.G.B.T. ideology,” encompassing a third of the country.
Last week’s action is not the first condemnation against Poland’s “LGBT-free zones” on the part of E.U. officials. In December 2019, members of European Parliament voted 463 to 107 in favor of a statement calling on Polish authorities to “condemn these acts and to revoke all resolutions attacking [LGBTQ+] rights.” The declaration, which was mostly symbolic, called the “LGBT-free zones” one component of a “broader context of attacks against the [LGBTQ+] community.”
Although LGBTQ+ people are entitled to housing protections and some employment protections in Poland, the community has been routinely targeted in recent years. In July 2019, LGBTQ+ Pride marchers in the town of Bialystok were pelted with bottles, rocks, and firecrackers by members of far-right organizations.
More recently, Poland’s conservative president, Andrej Duda, won re-election following a divisive campaign in which he referred to LGBTQ+ rights as “destructive to man” and threatened to ban same-sex couples from adopting.
As Poland continues to embrace extremist homophobia, it is likely to continue experiencing blowback from other member countries in the E.U., where it lags far behind on the issue of LGBTQ+ rights. Earlier this year, the Dutch city of Nieuwegein ended its sister-city relationship with Pulawy, a mid-size town in southeastern Poland, after the latter joined Poland’s list of “LGBT-free zones.”
“In Nieuwegein everyone is allowed to be who he or she is, regardless of his or her sexual orientation, gender, religion or ethnic origin,” said city alderman Marieke Schouten in a statement to CNN.
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