Tag Archives: Poland

The Guardian reports: Brussels has put itself on a collision course with the Polish and Hungarian governments after proposing to criminalise hate speech against LGBTQ+ people under EU law and secure recognition of same-sex partnerships across the bloc’s borders. Věra Jourová, a European commissioner, said the measures followed new “worrying trends”, with the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights reporting that …

The BBC reports: Ambassadors from around the world have called for the rights of gay and transgender people to be respected in Poland, where many towns have declared themselves free of “LGBT ideology”. An open letter released on Sunday urges the Polish government to “end discrimination” of sexual minorities. It was signed by envoys from 50 countries, including Poland’s EU …

The Associated Press reports: Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who ran a campaign with homophobic and anti-Semitic overtones, narrowly won a second five-year term in a bitterly fought weekend election, defeating the liberal Warsaw mayor, according to a near-complete count of votes. Duda’s supporters celebrated what they saw as a clear mandate from voters for him and the right-wing …

The Associated Press reports: Poland planned to close its borders at midnight and deny all foreigners entry unless they lived in Poland or had personal ties there. The Czech Republic and Slovakia took similar action. Lithuania said it was introducing border checks at the frontiers with Poland and Latvia for 10 days and was considering banning foreigners from entering. Russia …

Agence France-Press reports: Poland’s left-wing parties on Tuesday approved Robert Biedron, an openly gay politician, as their candidate in the May presidential election. The move in the conservative, predominantly Catholic country where same-sex unions are not recognised, was aimed at preserving democracy, they said. Leaders in the Lewica (Left) alliance said they chose Biedron because of his clear backing for …

Reuters reports: Poland’s ruling conservative nationalist party won parliamentary elections on Sunday, a result that likely will lead it to seek to exert even more control over the country’s judiciary and deepen a showdown with the European Union. Preliminary results showed the Law and Justice party won about 44% of the vote, giving it a majority in the 460-seat lower …

Politico Europe reports: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier asked for Poland’s forgiveness as he marked the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II on Sunday. Speaking at a ceremony in the Polish town of Wieluń, where the first German bombs fell, Steinmeier said “far too few” Germans knew the town’s history today. Alternating between German and Polish, he continued: …

Reuters reports: Poland’s Catholic Church has doubled down on the anti-gay rhetoric that has become the nationalist ruling party’s dominant theme in recent weeks, drawing a rebuke from liberal politicians who compared an archbishop’s remarks to incitement to genocide. In a sermon given to mark the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw uprising by Polish resistance fighters against Nazi occupation, the …

The New York Times reports: The marchers at the first gay pride parade here in the conservative Polish city of Bialystok expected that they would be met with resistance. But last week when Katarzyna Sztop-Rutkowska saw the angry mob of thousands that awaited the marchers, who numbered only a few hundred, she was shocked. “The most aggressive were the football …

Catholic News Agency reports: An Ikea worker in Poland has filed a lawsuit after being fired last week for posting Bible verses opposing homosexual behavior on the company’s intranet. Tomasz K is suing after he was terminated from his position at the furniture store in Krakow. Poland Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro has also asked the national prosecutor’s office to …

The Washington Post reports: A new documentary revealing cases of sexual abuse by priests has deeply shaken Poland, one of Europe’s most Roman Catholic societies, eliciting an apology from the church hierarchy and prompting one cleric to leave priestly life. “Tell No One,” a film financed through a crowdfunding campaign, was released on YouTube on Saturday. By Monday, the documentary …

The Guardian reports: A woman has been arrested on suspicion of offending religious sentiment, after posters bearing an image of the Virgin Mary with her halo painted in the colours of the rainbow flag appeared in the city of Płock in central Poland. The Polish interior minister, Joachim Brudziński, announced on Twitter on Monday that a person had been arrested …

The Associated Press reports: The chairman of Poland’s conservative ruling party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has called the LGBT rights movement a foreign import that threatens the Polish nation. Kaczynski, a member of parliament who wields tremendous influence as leader of the Law and Justice party, also said during a lecture on patriotism that “everyone must accept Christianity” in Poland and questioning …

In Poland reports: Nine men were detained by the police following Saturday’s pride march in the western central Polish city of Gniezno, deputy inspector Iwona Liszczyńska reported. Some of the detainees were accused of disturbing a public gathering and violating police officer’s bodily integrity. The first ever pride march in Gniezno’s history took place under the “Gniezno – the first …

Reuters reports: Critics of Poland’s right-wing ruling party voiced outrage Thursday after one of its senators said Poland should be “purged” of those “not worthy of belonging to our national community.” They said the language used by Grzegorz Bierecki echoed fascists of the 1930s. He said his comments were misunderstood and refused to apologize. “Horrifying, shameful words evoking Europe’s darkest …

The Washington Post reports: A priest in northern Poland who led a public burning of books that included titles from the “Harry Potter” series and other items parishioners wanted destroyed has apologized, saying the ritual was not intended to condemn specific authors, religions or social groups. The Rev. Rafal Jarosiewicz called the burning of objects thought to be connected to …

The Guardian reports: Catholic priests in Poland have burned books that they say promote sorcery, including JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, in a ceremony they photographed and posted on Facebook. Three priests in the northern city of Koszalin were pictured carrying the books in a large basket from inside a church to a stone area outside. The books were set …

Newsweek reports: A large group of Polish nationalists took over a major square in downtown Manhattan on Sunday, protesting U.S. legislation that seeks to compensate Holocaust survivors whose property was seized during World War II. The marchers were draped in Polish flags and carried signs opposing bill SS47, which became law in May 2018. The law calls for the return …

Gay Star News reports: Less than two weeks after its mayor signed a historic accord recognizing the rights of LGBTI people, homophobes unfurled an anti-gay banner at a soccer match in Warsaw. Fans of the team Legia Warsaw unfurled the massive banner which read, ‘keep Warsaw free from faggots’ on Friday night. The banner also featured the LGBT acronym with …

The Associated Press reports: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s off-hand comment in Warsaw about Poland and the Holocaust set in motion a diplomatic crisis that on Monday scuttled this week’s summit of central European leaders in Israel. Poland’s abrupt decision to cancel its participation in the planned Visegrad conference in protest blew up the gathering, which Netanyahu has touted as a …