PŁOCK, Poland — Two months before Poland’s parliamentary election, LGBT issues have soared to the top of the political agenda, which is why the three leaders of a newly formed left-wing political alliance were marching in a gay pride parade Saturday in the central city of Płock.
“We have to be here for freedom,” said Robert Biedroń, a newly elected MEP and leader of the Wiosna movement. “We want to convert [leader of the ruling Law and Justice party Jarosław] Kaczyński and the Catholic church,” he added.
Until this year, gay rights had been a peripheral issue in Polish politics.
Many of Poland’s MPs, including then Prime Minister and current European Council President Donald Tusk, laughed at the openly gay Biedroń as he delivered his first speech to the Polish parliament after winning a seat in 2011.
Most parties, including the ex-communist Democratic Left Alliance and Tusk’s Civic Platform, have traditionally been leery of openly promoting issues like civil partnership, afraid of alienating a conservative country.
A recent survey for the Rzeczpospolita newspaper found that 46 percent of Poles are against civil partnerships for gays.
But ahead of the October 13 election, Law and Justice (PiS) politicians together with senior clerics from the powerful Roman Catholic church, have unleashed a series of verbal attacks against gay people — accusing them of promoting an ideology alien and dangerous to Poland.
Gay aversion
Kaczyński, the country’s de facto ruler, has warned: “The LGBT and gender movements threaten our identity, threaten our nation, threaten the Polish state.”
Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski gave a recent sermon warning of a “rainbow disease” stalking Poland, comparing LGBT communities to the communists who once ruled the country.
He was speaking just days after a gay pride parade in the northeastern city of Bialystok was attacked by football hooligans and nationalists.
The same groups promised to attack Saturday’s march in Płock. A massive police presence protected several thousand marchers and helped ensure opponents hurled obscenities rather than rocks and eggs.
Płock, like the rest of Poland, is undergoing rapid change; the city is fringed by new malls and big box stores | Jan Cienski
“They are people who want to impose things on us — strange ideologies we don’t agree with,” said Jarek Krajewski, a Płock local who showed up toward the end of the parade waving an enormous banner with a sword on it reading: “Homopropaganda is a 21st century disease.”
“I’m a member of PiS and I think that the party has been much too mild toward this kind of thing,” said Kazimierz Cieślik, a pensioner leaning on his walker and watching the gay pride march with distaste.
Politics permeated the march.
“This is a situation created by PiS and the church. They are creating a spiral of hatred for political reasons. This is going to lead to blood in the streets,” said Monika Bujak, a 38-year-old saleswoman from the southern city of Tarnów dancing in a rainbow skirt at the head of the parade.
For PiS, attacking LGBT rights carries possible political gains. A recent survey for the Rzeczpospolita newspaper found that 46 percent of Poles are against civil partnerships for gays, 56 percent are against gay marriage and 76 percent against gay couples adopting children.
Some people in Płock cheered and waved as the marchers walked by waving rainbow and Polish flags | Jan Cienski
The party dominates the right wing of Polish politics, and its voters are more nationalistic and more religious than those who support the opposition.
Electoral rocket fuel
Making gay rights an electoral issue also creates problems for Civic Platform, the largest opposition party. It has Christian democratic roots, but has shifted leftward in recent years. Its leader Grzegorz Schetyna now supports civil partnerships — an issue the party dodged when it was in power from 2007 to 2015. But the party is wary of adopting a pro-gay stance that could alienate its more conservative backers.
That leaves gay rights fertile ground for the left.
A new survey for the Super Express newspaper has PiS with 43 percent support, a centrist bloc led by Civic Platform at 28 percent, and the left-wing alliance with 12 percent.
Płock is similarly split. Six of the region’s 10 MPs are from Law and Justice, but its Civic Platform mayor, Andrzej Nowakowski, has served three terms and backed Saturday’s march.
Some residents in Płock thought the parade was not necessary | Jan Cienski
The divisions were evident as the parade wended its way through the streets of the city of 120,000 about two hours drive northwest of Warsaw.
“It’s not needed,” said a man observing the march while puffing on an electronic cigarette.
Other people cheered and waved as the marchers walked by waving rainbow and Polish flags.
Płock, like the rest of Poland, is undergoing rapid change. The city is fringed by new malls and big box stores. Unemployment is only 6.1 percent. Roads have been resurfaced and many buildings have been renovated.
The people are changing too.
As the marchers walked by a kebab shop, the South Asian owner looked on with a big grin.
“Poland is going great,” he said, giving a thumbs up.