The Fight for Gay Rights in Poland
Former Polish President, and Solidarity leader, Lech Walesa, in 2009. (Photo: Wiki Commons)
The Catholic Church is hugely popular in Poland, especially among older Poles, from the generation that protested against Communism in the 1980s and supported the Solidarity Movement.
The leader of that movement was union leader Lech Walesa, who also happens to be a staunch Catholic.
He later served as president of Poland for five years, and he remains a popular icon of Polish democracy.
But Walesa’s reputation as a fighter for democratic values has taken a hit in the past few days.
He set off a storm last week, saying in a TV interview that gays didn’t belong in parliament.
“This has been debated every day on the news channels, the radio stations, the TV and the newspapers since Walesa made these comments,” says the BBC’s Warsaw correspondent, Adam Easton.
On Tuesday, Poland’s only openly gay Member of Parliament and a transgender colleague occupied the front benches of the Polish parliament in protest.
Easton says the debate reflects broader divides in Polish society between the conservative older generation, and a more liberal younger generation.
The story you just read is available for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll get us one step closer to our goal of raising $25,000 by June 14. We need your help now more than ever!