Gay Poland News & Reports 2001-04

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The Reality of Being Gay in Poland-Violence against homosexuals remains quite common-but times are changing.

by Wojciech Szajnar
According to the Report on Discrimination Due to Sexual Orientation in Poland, published by the Lambda Warszawa association, 22 percent of Polish gays and lesbians have experienced physical violence, and 51 percent have faced mental abuse, including slander, threats and blackmail.

Formally Poland meets most European and international standards on protecting the rights of sexual minorities. Poland is far ahead of Romania, for example, where homosexuality was a crime only several years ago. Article 30 of the Polish constitution states that "The inherent and inalienable dignity of the human being is the source of freedom, and human and civic rights. This is inviolable, and respect for and protection of this are the responsibility of the public authorities." Article 32 of the constitution prohibits discrimination against Polish citizens for any reason. The principle of non-discrimination also stems from Poland’s ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of Dec. 10, 1948, among other legal acts.

" On one hand, Polish law protects everyone against flagrant violations of human, social and political rights, including the protection of privacy and personal goods, protection from defamation and a ban on actions designed to incite social hatred," wrote Dr. Tomasz Basiuk and Marcin ¸ukomski, representatives of the Polish section of Amnesty International, in an article titled The Preference for Ignorance: Society in the Face of Homosexuality. "However, in practice gays and lesbians are often subject to direct discrimination through various forms of persecution in their communities, and indirect, or hidden, discrimination, like being fired from work, especially in schools and the military."

The previous-also the first ever-report on discrimination against homosexuals in Poland was published in 1994. The new report was presented at a press conference July 9 at the headquarters of the Batory Foundation. The Lambda Warszawa Association, established in 1997, wrote the report in cooperation with the International Gay and Lesbian Association. Lambda Warszawa is the largest of about 30 nongovernmental organizations in Poland dealing with homosexuality. Since 1998, it has run the Rainbow Information-Assistance Center, offering a telephone hotline, support groups, legal advice and HIV/AIDS prevention.

The associations prepared the new report on the basis of 215 anonymous questionnaires. According to the responses, 22 percent of Polish gays and lesbians have experienced direct physical violence due to their sexual orientation, while 77 percent of them have not reported these incidents to the police for fear of the reaction of law enforcement authorities and the social consequences of revealing the fact that they experienced abuse due to their sexual orientation. Another disturbing trend is the frequent recurrence of abuse aimed at homosexuals. Most of the 22 percent of respondents who have been the targets of physical violence have been attacked two or three times.

Nearly 51 percent of homosexuals in Poland have experienced mental abuse. With this form of abuse, the frequency of repeat encounters is especially alarming-as many as 65 percent of this group of respondents have been the victims of mental abuse more than three times. In these incidents it seems that the intimidation is even worse than with physical abuse, as 93.5 percent of the victims have not reported to the police.

Members of gay and lesbian communities have been forced, chiefly for the reasons stated above, to adopt a strategy of avoiding situations likely to trigger abuse. Nearly 77 percent of respondents stated that they avoid expressing their feelings about their partners in public places. The authors of the report described many incidents of abuse that homosexuals have suffered at the hands of their immediate family. Moreover, only 51 percent of those polled stated that they had revealed their sexual orientation to the members of their own family. A much larger number of respondents trusted their friends in this matter-74 percent of those polled informed their friends about their sexual orientation, even though the friends involved occasionally responded with physical violence.

Article 113 of the Labor Code states that any kind of discrimination at work is inadmissible. If an employee is unfairly dismissed, he or she may appeal to a labor court and demand reinstatement or compensation. Data in the report shows that discrimination at work is always a potential. On one hand, a relatively small number of respondents complained about discriminatory practices at their place of work, while on the other hand, the vast majority, about 70 percent, have not revealed their sexual orientation to their employers or fellow employees. The same goes for access to services-70 percent of respondents said that they refrain from stating their sexual orientation when renting an apartment.

Clearly, allowing homosexuals to adopt is a very controversial issue in Poland, and carrying out the European Parliament’s resolution of February 1994, calling on all European states to award equal rights to homosexuals by allowing them to establish legally recognized unions and adopt children, seems impossible for the time being. Actually, the Polish constitution disallows the former measure, since Article 18 defines a family as a relationship between a woman and a man. On the other hand, the idea of awarding homosexual couples some of the rights normally enjoyed by traditional married couples, such as common property and an inheritance even when the deceased partner left no will, is receiving increasing support.

Contrary to Lambda Warszawa’s pessimistic report, the situation in Poland is beginning to change for the better. Warsaw’s Centrum borough signed an agreement with the association May 23, 2001 on carrying out the Safer Relationships project, the first local government unit in Poland to do so. The program began June 1 and is scheduled to last until Dec. 31. The program seeks to promote safer sex among homosexuals.

Gay activists attribute the changes to Poland’s social and political reintegration into the European mainstream along with a decline in the Roman Catholic Church’s role as arbiter of the nation’s moral values. They also say the explosive expansion of the Internet and a scandal within the Polish church have played roles as well. Last year, Warsaw’s first attempt at a gay pride parade drew about 200 participants and twice as many police. Earlier this year, 2,000 turned out for what prudently has been renamed the Equity Day parade.

Decade of change
The showing was a far cry from the annual gay pride parade in Berlin, which usually attracts half a million participants, but it was enough to remind Witek Seislak, 40, of how much has changed in little more than a decade. "In communist times, there was no official gay life in Poland. No newspapers, no bars. Nothing. The only places for me were the public toilets and public parks," said Seislak, a software engineer with a multinational corporation. "Just after communism collapsed there was freedom to establish a gay bar and a weekly newspaper, but the change in mentality was slower," he said. Unlike neighboring Hungary and the Czech Republic, where gay life flourished after the fall of communism, democratic Poland was influenced by the Catholic Church, and there was little tolerance for gay lifestyles.

But as Poland slips into a more European orbit, it appears to be catching up quickly. With full membership in the European Union expected within two years, demographic trends indicate that Poles are embracing the attitudes and behavioral norms of their Western European neighbors. At the same time, the church’s grip on social and political life has slipped noticeably. "Our big problem is still the church. No matter what you say, this is still a church state," said Artur Pawlak, owner of the Miami Cafe, a new Warsaw gay bar.

"But now people are free to travel, and they know what life is like in other cities," said Pawlak, 27, who left Poland when he was 19 and spent eight years living and working in Florida before coming back last year to start his business.

Seislak, the software engineer, said he believes the Internet revolution, more than anything else, helped accelerate the gay revolution in Poland. "The Internet has been a huge force for change. The access to information, to literature, to other gays – this is our real revolution," he said. "The new generation, the ones in their 20s who use the Internet, have a completely different view of themselves. I can see it in the way they think about themselves. Gays from my generation still feel this shame, and we are still afraid to talk openly, but not the new generation."

Most major cities in Poland now have a couple of bars or discos where gays socialize, but in the small towns life can still be lonely and frightening. A 1992 survey conducted in small Polish towns asked people to rank the groups they most despised. Homosexuals were at the top of the list, followed by prostitutes and gypsies. When the survey was repeated in 1997, there was no change. In a similar survey conducted across the border in Germany, "Turks" (an informal reference to all Muslim minorities) were the most despised; homosexuals did not even make the list.

These attitudes have been reinforced by the church, whose priests in the pulpit routinely condemn homosexuals as perverts and sinners. "Once, after I told a priest something in confession, he said that he couldn’t absolve me because my behavior was worse than an animal’s," said Andrzej, 32, who asked that his last name not be published. He is a founder of the Christian Union of Gays and Lesbians in Poland, a group still unrecognized by the Polish government. Last year, when a modest proposal to protect gays from harassment and discrimination came before Poland’s parliament, far-right Catholic parties made sure it died.

But earlier this year, the Catholic hierarchy had to confront gays in its own closet when one of its leaders, Archbishop Juliusz Paetz of Poznan, was forced to resign after being accused of making sexual advances toward young priests and seminarians.

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Equality Parade in Warsaw 

Approximately 3,000 persons took part in the colorful Equality Parade in Warsaw, organized by an association of gays and lesbians.
 
" We are the largest minority in Poland. We have the right to fight for equality," exclaimed loudspeakers at the start of the parade. Representatives of sexual minorities with friends and supporters protested in this way against intolerance, discrimination and homophobia.
 
The parade started from the Royal Caster Square and ended at the Sejm. According to the International Lesbian and Gay Culture Network Poland, there are some two million homosexual individuals living in Poland. They complain at the lack of acceptance and at the discrimination in their everyday lives. They demand a bill which would enable homosexual couples to register their relationships, giving them the same rights that marriages enjoy (in question are the possibility of inheritance and access to information about the condition of related hospital patients).
 
Participants walked to the tune of loud rhythmic music. Some of them danced, waved rainbow flags. One of the two platforms was occupied by drag queens, or men dressed up as women. Present were members of gay movement organizations from France, Germany, Hungary and Serbia.
 
Joke Swiebel, MEP for the Dutch Labor Party and chairperson of the European Parliament’s group for gay and lesbian rights, was also one of the participants. "Tolerance is not enough. We don’t just want to be tolerated. What we need is justice and the same rights that others enjoy," she said to the applause of the audience.
 
No representatives of the Polish political scene were present. Singer Krystyna Proƒko addressed this fact. "Politicians who ‘could not’ come here today should think twice. Look how powerful we are," she said.
 
No incidents were reported during the parade. Onlookers witnessed the parading crowd from the sidewalks of the Royal Road. "I don’t have anything against them as long as they leave my butt alone. Normal people," said one onlooker, who observed the parade together with his wife and two small children. An older gentleman on the other hand expressed his outrage at the parade. "What on earth? Maybe they’ll be adopting children, too?" he said in an upset tone.

Proposal has limits
The proposed legislation in Poland avoids the use of the word marriage. The bill would allow same-sex couples to register their union, take each other’s last names, file joint tax returns and own property together. "The law would not give us equal status to married couples," said Szymon Niemiec, head of the Polish chapter of the International Gay and Lesbian Cultural Network. "It will give us certain rights, but there will also be restrictions that arise from Polish cultural traditions. We will not be able to adoptchildren, for example," Niemiec added.

by Tomek Kitlinski
On the night of February 15, a hacker broke into an e-mail account of Poland’s leading gay organization, Campaign Against Homophobia.  The hacker made off with the treasurer’s entire membership list, which was instantly posted in two of the country’s most popular commercial websites.  Names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of members were spiked with comments such as "pedophile" and "drug addict". Within hours, the group’s activists and supporters were emailed a barrage of hate messages.  "You are deviants, alcoholics, drug addicts, carriers of sexually-transmitted diseases, and you spread AIDS," they said.
       
The Gdansk-based Baltic Daily, which broke the story on February 19, identified the hacker as "probably a sympathizer of a radical right-wing party, the National Revival of Poland."  When he posted the Campaign’s membership list, the hacker attached the NRP’s "Ban the Fags" logo.  According to the Roth Institute, at Tel Aviv University, which tracks anti-Semitic groups, the NRP is a "predominantly neo-Nazi skinhead organization" mostly known "for its promotion of Holocaust denial."
       
In an official statement published on its website, the NRP denied having "committed the computer burglary."  However, elsewhere on the same site, the NRP promised that "the actions in the "Ban the Fags" series will continue."  It did not specify what those actions might be. The Campaign Against Homophobia reported the hacking to the police the following morning, and eventually managed to get the lists removed from the two websites.  An investigation by the Warsaw prosecutor’s office has since yielded no results.
       
Homophobia backlash
The Campaign’s Gdansk coordinator, Artur Czerwinski, was the first to notice the hate posting.  "I was afraid.  I was very apprehensive.  What’s going to happen?  What should we do?  Should we provide security for the people listed?  It was a big challenge," he told The Gully.  Czerwinski, who is one of the Campaign’s most visible spokespeople, sees the incident as part of a rising wave of homophobia in Poland.  "In this country, the people on the list can easily be slandered," he said.
       
Robert Biedron, 28, the Campaign’s charismatic founder and president concurs.  "I regularly receive threats.  In one anonymous letter I was called the President of All Deviants, who should have a stone hung around his neck and drowned.  But the theft of the membership list made things even more serious," he said.
       
Biedron added that a week after the hacker posted the Campaign treasurer’s list, the treasurer’s "neighbors found copies of a 2003 TV interview transcript in their mailboxes, where he said he was gay."  The Campaign’s treasurer, who lives in Warsaw refused to be interviewed for this article and asked to remain unnamed.

The theft happened as Poland was in the grips of an anti-pedophilia frenzy, largely fueled by the country’s main newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza.  Queers and people living with HIV/AIDS were systematically lumped together with pedophiles in the public mind, and pedophilia strictly equated with "boy molesting" (girls need not apply).  The mass hysteria was triggered by sensationalist coverage of the indictment of Wojciech Krolopp, the long-time conductor of the prestigious Poznan Boys Choir, who had been charged with "sexually abusing" three of his young singers.

Founded in 2001, the Campaign Against Homophobia organized last year’s controversial billboard project "Let Us Be Seen," which showed photos of queer couples holding hands, and the "I’m Gay. I’m Lesbian. Meet Us" forums at Polish universities.  It is currently working for the same-sex civil union bill introduced in the Polish Senate by Senator Maria Szyszkowska.

by John Horvat II
The city of Krakow would seem to be an unlikely place for a heated debate over homosexual “rights” and same-sex “marriage.” Poland’s cultural capital is situated in a conservative region in this overwhelmingly Catholic country. The city’s homosexual population is minute and insignificant. Indeed the issue has been largely ignored by Polish media. Resistance to the idea of same-sex “marriage” is strong and there is a tendency to be complacent in the belief that such an aberration would never enter the country.

This climate, however, has recently changed. With Poland’s May 1 entry into the European Union, many Poles are feeling the pressure to follow the example of other member nations who have approved same-sex unions and other such partnership benefits. Krakow was the scene of heated debate and controversy over the homosexual rights and same-sex "marriage."

A March is Announced
This was further aggravated when a small group of homosexual activists in Krakow announced their intention to stage a protest march of “tolerance” on the same day as the procession of St. Stanislaus, the city’s patron and its largest religious event counting on the presence of cardinals, bishops, local clergy, city officials and multitudes of the faithful. The march was to end with a festival with art music and films with “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered themes.” City leaders immediately reacted to what they did not hesitate to call a “provocation.” It was only with difficulty that the march was moved two days earlier to May 8. With this, homosexual activists hoped to defuse protests and parade unopposed.

It was into this charged atmosphere that I unwittingly stumbled when I arrived in Krakow in early May. Two months earlier, I had been invited to give a series of informative talks on the homosexual movement and introduce the American TFP’s book, Defending a Higher Law: Why We Must Resist Same-sex Marriage and the Homosexual Movement. The TFP-inspired Stowarzyszenie Kultury Chrzescijanskiej im. Ks. Piotra Skargi (Fr. Peter Skarga Association for Christian Culture) sponsored the tour.
At the time of the invitation, the talks were to speak about a future threat. Now the threat was real.

Perceiving the need to protest against this provocation, Fr. Peter Skarga Association for Christian Culture sent nearly 280,000 flyers to Krakow residents. Readers were urged to send protest postcards to the city’s mayor and the rector of the sponsoring Jagiellonian University. The issue quickly came to the fore. Over 30,000 protest post cards flooded both the town hall and university offices.

A Whirlwind Tour
The Krakow debate made same-sex “marriage” and homosexual rights an issue all over Poland. The liberal tabloid Gazeta Wyborcz, took note of the debate with the headline: “Krakow Says No to Gays.” The controversy in Krakow only served to spark interest in the scheduled talks. A few days before the march, the Fr. Peter Skarga Association for Christian Culture organized a public lecture on homosexuality at the ornate general chamber in the historic Krakow City Hall. Noted Polish doctor and psychologist Wanda Poltawski spoke at length of her observations and treatment of homosexuality. I also spoke to those who filled the full city chamber to tell them they were not alone: a majority of Americans also oppose same-sex marriage.

At Warsaw’s Institute for Family Studies, I spoke to a vibrant auditorium of university students where we discussed at length about how to deal with media and cultural pressure to accept homosexuality within their own age group. At the diocesan seminary in Sandomierez, it was heartening to see a room full of 145 seminarians, concerned about the pastoral aspects of the homosexual problem. Prof. Arkadiusz Robaczewski gathered members of his Instytut Edukacji Narodowej at Catholic University in Lublin where we discussed how the fall of communism made the left change its field of action. The new members of the proletariat of the left are the homosexual, feminist and ecological activists who see themselves as oppressed by Christian morality.

In Torun, north of Warsaw, we were part of a symposium at a Redemptorist school of journalism on the homosexual movement. A lively auditorium of young students discussed many of the myths used by the homosexual movement to promote their cause. These included the use of inflated numbers and the idea that homosexuality is innate or genetic.

Mr. Horvat appeared on Polish television to give an American perspective on the homosexual movement. At nearby Radio Maryja, we visited this impressive state-of-the-art Catholic radio and television studio. Run by Fr. Tadeusz Rydzyk, the facility has millions of listeners in Poland and abroad. On both television and radio, I was invited to give an American perspective on the homosexual movement and field questions from listeners throughout Poland and even the United States. Throughout the tour, Polish friends were heartened to hear there are wholesome reactions to homosexuality in America. They were encouraged to see they are not alone and how all must be united against the actions of the worldwide homosexual movement.

A Loud No
The march in Krakow took place as planned but not without protests and opposition. The promised huge march of homosexual activists failed to materialize. Some 100-200 homosexual marchers were joined by about 500 sympathizers from a menagerie of leftist groups. Green Party supporters, feminists, anarchists and socialists made up the ranks. Several hundred pro-family supporters spontaneously gathered to show their displeasure. The pro-homosexual march quickly broke up as the marchers saw how unwelcome their activism had become.

The headlines of the Gazeta Wyborcz the next day were quite expressive: “Krakow: Two Cities.” The homosexual issue had indeed polarized the city and forced all to take a stand. However, the small homosexual minority and their sympathizers could hardly be called a city. Rather I would say the debate united the city on this grave moral issue and the overwhelming majority said a loud “no” to those who would force homosexuality upon them.

On Pilgrimage to Czestochowa
No visit to Poland is complete without a visit to the ancient icon of Our Lady in Czestochowa. There, this miraculous image reportedly painted by St. Luke, reigns as queen of Poland. She has seen invading Swedes, Russians and Austrians. She has stood firm in the face of Nazism and decades of communism. Long lines of pilgrims constantly move in and out as they have for centuries. It is there at this sanctuary that you sense the heavenly alliance that allowed the Polish people to resist with such noble obstinacy so many attempts in history to destroy their nation.

by John Horvat II
June is the month when homosexual activists hold their so-called "gay pride" marches. In cities throughout the world, the media are quick to highlight these events as signs of vibrant homosexual militancy. Readers will find plenty of news about the marches as they happen. However they will not find anything about the controversy surrounding this year’s homosexual march in Warsaw for the simple reason that it didn’t happen.

Poland Rejects Homosexuality
Throughout the month of June, Poles protested in large numbers reflecting the true opinion of this conservative country where the population is overwhelmingly Catholic. In fact, most Poles reject homosexuality based on the Church’s condemnation of the practice. Homosexuals themselves make up a minute part of the population.

However, with Poland’s May 1 entry into the European Union, the nation’s homosexual activists had hoped to put the nation in the limelight with a number of high-profile actions to advance their cause. They announced marches on major Church feast days in Krakow and Warsaw, a step many Poles did not hesitate to see as a provocation.

Krakow Says No!
Homosexual activist expected their May 8 protest in the culture center of Krakow would be the first spark in igniting the issue nationwide. Perceiving the need to protest against this provocation, the TFP-inspired Fr. Peter Skarga Association for Christian Culture (Stowarzyszenie Kultury Chrzescijanskiej im. Ks. Piotra Skargi) sent nearly 280,000 flyers to Krakow residents who sent protest postcards to the city’s mayor and the rector of the sponsoring Jagiellonian University. Over 30,000 protest post cards flooded both the town hall and university offices.

The promised huge march of homosexual activists fizzled out. Some 100-200 homosexual marchers were joined by about 500 Green Party supporters, feminists, anarchists and socialists. The pro-homosexual march broke up when several hundred pro-family supporters spontaneously gathered to vent their displeasure.

No Pact in Warsaw
Stinging from their defeat in Krakow, homosexual activists hoped that the more liberal capital city of Warsaw might be more amenable to their cause. A Corpus Christi day march was announced which was later changed to June 11 due to religious objections. They also declared that over 7000 marchers were expected to attend.

Responding to the threat, the Fr. Peter Skarga Association for Christian Culture sent nearly 700,000 flyers to Warsaw residents. Readers were urged to send protest postcards to the city’s mayor, Lech Kaczynski, and the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Józef Oleksy. According to TFP Polish correspondent Valdis Grinsteins, controversy raged around the march as protests piled in. The mayor of Warsaw prohibited the march since it was ever more obvious that residents did not want their city used as a stage for homosexual activism.

When the decision was challenged by homosexual advocates, the mayor reaffirmed the prohibition three times. The activists tried to create a tense situation by announcing they would march illegally. Stinging from their defeat in Krakow, homosexuals hoped to receive a warmer welcome in the more liberal city of Warsaw.

The March That Wasn’t
As the date of the march neared, the mayor’s office did not back down. The activists even resorted to pie-throwing antics targeting the mayor and other acts manifesting their “tolerance.” They eventually decided to join a protest organized by leftist parties in front of Warsaw City Hall.

On the day of the march, a tiny group of leftists and activists gathered at City Hall. Far from the 7000 people they had threatened to unite, a mere 400 protesters showed up. Counter-protesters also appeared to manifest their protest and take any air of festivity from the event. Pro-family protesters had accomplished their objective, the great Warsaw pride march had failed.

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Gay composer Karol Maciej Szymanowski (1882-1937) is revered as the father of Polish contemporary classical music; he unequivocally expresses homoeroticism in his music.

byDouglas Blair Turnbaugh
He was born at Timoshovska, Ukraine, on October 3, 1882. Although born in Russian territory, Szymanowski was of a noble Polish family. The family estate was a center of musical activity, and, with his father as his teacher, Szymanowski’s musical education began at an early age. A masterly pianist, he later studied privately in Warsaw, but was an autodidact in composition. His earliest work, influenced by Chopin and Scriabin, is lyrical, but dominated by sentimental melancholy.

In 1905 Szymanowski began to live abroad, as he continued his "self-education." The rich, talented, handsome young aristocrat was an ornament in the stupendous social whirl of pre-World War I Berlin, Leipzig, and Vienna. With his friend Stefan Spiess, he visited Sicily in 1911 and Algiers and Tunis in 1914. Szymanowski, not unlike other European gay artists, such as Baron von Gloeden, Oscar Wilde, and André Gide, found the spectacle of unabashed boy-love in the less inhibited southern climate to be psychologically liberating and, thereby, an inspiration to his art.

Szymanowski celebrated his newly liberated sexuality in his music. After the Sicilian visit, the melancholy of his earlier work was vanquished by the joy that would be present throughout the rest of his creative life. Homoeroticism is discernible in much of his music, especially in such works as "Love Songs of Hafiz" and "Third Symphony–Song of the Night, for tenor solo," a setting of a poem by the thirteenth-century Persian poet Rumi. Krysinski and de la Motte-Sherman declare that Szmanowski’s music is "unrivalled as a lyric song of a soul in love."

After the war, with pianist Ignace Paderewski as Prime Minister of a free Poland, Polish folk music became a factor in Szymanowski’s music. The composer spent much of his time in the Podhale region, where a large community of friends, musicians, and artists was devoted to him. He dealt with his spirituality–the guilt-inducing Catholic attitude toward homosexuality during his youth now mitigated by a Dionysian concept of Christianity–in his Stabat Mater (1928). He was appointed rector of the Academy of Music in Warsaw in 1927, but intrigues, fueled by homophobia, caused him to resign in 1932.

In failing health, in 1934 Karol Szymanowski declared that there was one thing in his life he did not regret: he had loved many. He had been loved, too. He died on March 29, 1937 at Lausanne, Switzerland. UNESCO declared 1982 as the International Year of Karol Szymanowski.