Polish Gays To Sue Ruling Party Over Homophobic Slurs

by Doug Ireland
August 24, 2006


Polish gays are fighting back against the notoriously homophobic Polish government: they are going to sue the ruling Law and Justice Party over two new incidents of homophobic propaganda.

In one incident, Pawel Zyzak, editor in chief of a party magazine, Right Turn!, wrote that gays are “animals” and were “the emissaries of Satan sent to destroy the Catholic Church.” (Poland is the most Catholic country in Europe.)

At the same time, in the northern city of Koscierzyna, a leading Law and Justice member of parliament who is also a member of the party’s governing council, Waldemar Bonkowski, placed a large, homophobic banner on the wall of the local party headquarters. “Today it’s gays and lesbians -- what’s next, zoophilia? Is that liberty and democracy? No, that’s syphilisation! Our Polish pope [the late John Paul II] is looking down from the sky and asking, Whither goest thou, Poland?” the banner read.

Well-known gay activist Lukasz Palucki told me, “I’m working with lawyers to prepare a lawsuit against the Law and Justice Party under Section 212 and 216 of Polish criminal law for these two hate-filled statements.” Those sections of the law prohibit hate speech and incitement to discrimination. “Even though the party is trying to control Poland’s courts and judges, and even though a lawsuit is expensive, we will do it,” Palucki added.

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