For LGBTQ+ people in Poland, the past eight years under the Law and Justice party (PiS) have been a period of turmoil and a test of endurance. Now that PiS is on its way out after last month’s elections – it was ousted by an opposition alliance led by Donald Tusk – there is a sense of hope on the horizon. So how have government and public attitudes on this issue changed in recent years, and what needs to be done now?
The LGBTQ+ community in Poland remains the least legally protected in the EU. The PiS government made homophobia a central electoral theme ever since it first had to defend its hold on power in 2018. Throughout local, EU and general elections, queer communities were consistently scapegoated by the ruling party and portrayed as an internal enemy. In 2020, Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, who was fighting for re-election, infamously claimed that “LGBT is not people, it’s an ideology”, which threatened the nation and was worse than communism. This kind of publicly sanctioned symbolic violence was echoed by several Law and Justice-controlled local authorities, which declared themselves “LGBT-free zones”, sparking outrage from civil society and international institutions and news media.
Perhaps surprisingly, though, polls consistently show that the Polish public’s attitude towards LGBTQ+ rights has become increasingly progressive. In a surprising turn of events, in the 2023 election, the subject was eclipsed by migration and women’s issues, suggesting that its electoral value for the right has somewhat petered out. As for the “LGBT-free zones”, a grassroots campaign conducted by established NGOs such as Kampania Przeciw Homofobii, as well as activists, stepped into gear. Mounting internal pressure from civil society and Poland’s ombudsman, and an explicit threat from the European Commission to withhold EU funds from local constituencies unless they repealed their anti-LGBTQ+ proclamations, has led to their almost complete disappearance.
LGBTQ+ rights have been in the political spotlight since democratisation in the early 90s, and Pride marches in particular were a flashpoint in past culture wars. Yet public attitudes have been liberalising for a while now. In fact, the data shows that acceptance of queer people – their lives, relationships and autonomy – has grown since the campaign to vilify them began. The sheer visibility of LGBTQ+ people has grown significantly, with many activists and ordinary individuals living openly even in the remotest corners of Poland. The number of Pride marches grew from six in 2016 to 20 in 2019. This growth was particularly pronounced in medium-sized towns, providing unprecedented visibility to the queer community across the country.
So what happens next? Just this week, LGBTQ+ activists have called on the democratic coalition-in-the-making to distance itself from the discriminatory policies of the previous government, and to prioritise equality and protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. They have several demands.
They seek the introduction of a ban on homophobic hate speech, particularly in public media and among public officials. To achieve this, they are requesting a swift amendment of the penal code, introducing penalties for hate speech related to sexual orientation and gender identity. They are also calling on the government to scrutinise public grants, as there have been examples of public money going to entities with homophobic agendas. The opposition ticket did promise to legalise same-sex marriage and introduce civil unions – the latter being the much more likely of the two. These issues are currently of lesser importance for LGBTQ+ activists but remain symbolically important. Down the line, the community expects the implementation of regulations to facilitate the gender transition process for transgender people.
The election results were a decisive endorsement of democracy, and came with the highest turnout since 1989 – this suggests that most Poles oppose populist hate speech and endorse equal treatment for all. However, actually introducing LGBTQ+-friendly policies will depend on the incoming government’s ability to navigate compromises between the three different political groupings about to form a ruling coalition. Likewise, Duda, known for his conservatism, who wields veto power over legislation, will remain Poland’s president until 2025. Nevertheless, never before has the Polish LGBTQ+ community stood so close to achieving some of its historic goals.
Dr Roch Dunin-Wąsowicz lectures in sociology at the UCL Social Research Institute
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