LGBTs in Poland, 1

 
 
 
 

Vocabulary

 

fed up	rhetoric	ever present
chaos	foul play	demonstration
pride	separate	subject (4)
verbal	violence	adequate
indite	profound	counter (3)
faggot	right (5)	conservative
rule	electoral	stronghold
justice	stable (2)	lead/led/led
ban	equality	staunchly
values	apologize	take place
enemy	defender	under attack
pray	descend	participant
hail	criticize	ingratitude
grace	objective	alternative
bless	foul (2)	straight (2)
priest	worship	solidarity
exist	appalled	model (3)
ally	disgust	comeback
march	heart (2)	participant
region	spew (2)	orientation (2)
threat	attitude	take to the street
attend	essence	pilgrimage
cleric	arch (2)	senior (3)
gulag	scene (2)	movement (2)
claim	destroy	concentration camp
gender	force (3)	archbishop
honor	suggest	guest of honor
critic	suspect	backfire (2)
blame	swear (2)
praise	campaign	sympathizer
afford	borrow	ignorance
rent	plus (2)	neutral
fan (3)	side (2)	totalitarianism
poll	quarter	outnumber

 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

An LGBT Plus rights march in Bialystok, eastern Poland descends into chaos as counter demonstrators attacked.

Katarzyna Roskinska, Organizer, Bialystok Equality March: “Participants in the march were subjected to verbal and physical violence. The police did nothing, likely because of the government. It’s possible the government didn’t want the march to be adequately policed.”

If the organizers suspect foul play at such a high level, it’s because this profoundly conservative region is an electoral stronghold of the ruling Law and Justice Party, nationalist and staunchly Catholic.

 

The party’s leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has said he would ban gay pride marches, if only the EU would let him.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Leader, Law and Justice Party (in power): “One man. One woman in a stable relationship. And their children. That is a family.”

Kaczynski, who is unmarried and has no children, is styling his party as the defender of traditional family values.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Leader, Law and Justice Party (in power): “That model of the family has today, ladies and gentlemen, many enemies. The family as we know it under attack. Indeed the natural differences between men and women are under attack.”

The attack, as Kaczynski see it, looks something like this:

LGBT Plus Rights Marches, or equality marches as they are known, have been taking place across Poland all summer, mostly unlike in Bialystok, the police do keep the marchers well separated from counter demonstrators who are ever present, and often praying.

 

Lukasz Szydlowski, Chaplain, Society of Saint Pius X: “Hail Mary, Full of Grace; the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Despite all the ingratitude and criticism that you face, know that objectively, you are doing what is right.”

Once the priest had finished though, worshipers found alternative ways to express their religion:

Worshipers: “Hey! Hey! Who’s not jumping is a faggot! Hey! Hey! Who’s not jumping is a faggot!”

A scene that left these women, straight allies who joined the march in solidarity appalled.

Malgorzata, Resident of Katowice: “I’d like to apologize to the whole of Europe for the fact that scenes like this are happening here, in the heart of Europe; that attitudes like this are making a comeback in Poland.

I don’t understand it, and I cannot accept it.”

This year’s march was the biggest in Katowice’s history. Disgust at the government’s homophobic rhetoric drew people of all sexual orientations.

Tomasz Kolodziejczyk, Organizer, Katowice Equality March: “Hate towards LGBT people is spewing out of the media and the political scene. That’s why a lot of people felt that they had to take to the streets and support LGBT people because this is all about human rights.”

In Katowice, the participants in the march massively outnumbered the counter demonstrators. But the following day, about eighty (80) kilometers to the southeast, thousands of people attended a pilgrimage led by the archbishop of Krakow, one of Poland’s most senior clerics.
He is well-known for his criticism of the LGBT Plus Rights Movement, which he compares to Nazi or Soviet totalitarianism.

Marek Jedraszewski, Archbishop of Krakow: “The concentration camps and the gulag were systems for destroying people. And then it was claimed that not reason, but dark forces within people liked to sex were the true essence to humanity.

And the same thing is being said today in the form of gender ideology, and LGBT ideology.”

Poland’s president, Andre Duda was the guest of honor. Though the archbishop’s critics suggested he could be indited for hate speech, the country’s leaders have publicly praised him.

 

Back in Bialystok activists blame the Church as well as the government for the attacks on their march.

Katarzyna Rosinska, Organizer, Bialystok Equality March: “The people who came out from the church were full of hatred, a long way from true Christian values, it seems to me.”

Joanna Gluszek, Rainbow Bialystock Association: “All those who attack LGBT people swear they are fighting an ideology, not people. But the ideology does not exist. Only we exist.”

The anti-LGBT campaign may be backfiring. After the attack on their march, sympathizers sent money to Bialystock’s LGBT community, which can finally afford to rent an office.

Katarzyna Rosinska, Organizer, Bialystok Equality March: “The owner says we can borrow this furniture.

Joanna Gluszek, Rainbow Bialystock Association: “If you take ignorance and fan it with fear, then you can turn it into hatred. But we are also seeing that some Poles are fed up with the ruling party’s rhetoric.

Katarzyna Rosinska, Organizer, Bialystok Equality March: “After the march in Bialystok, a lot of people who had been neutral or against it, decided that actually they are on our side, after they saw what hatred really looks like.”

Nevertheless, polling showed that nearly a quarter of citizens view the LGBT Plus movement as the greatest threat facing Poland.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

 

 

Questions

1. In Bialystok, Poland, there was a peaceful demonstration by members of the far-right. True or false?

2. Is this part of Poland open, liberal and tolerant?

3. The current government, government leaders, are sympathetic towards the LGBT community. Is this right or wrong? What do leaders say about homosexuality?

4. All Poles hate and despise gays. Is this correct or incorrect? What have they done as a result?

5. Does the Catholic Church sympathize, defend and support LGBTs? What do church leaders say about them?

6. “All those who attack LGBT people swear they are fighting an ideology, not people. But the ideology does not exist. Only we exist.” What does the LGBT activist mean by this?

7. Regarding LGBTs, are Pole becoming more hard-line, more sympathetic or are they remaining the same?

 

A. What is the attitude towards LGBTs in your nation? They are embraced and completely accepted. They are tolerated. In the middle. There are mixed feelings towards them. They are looked down up. Or, they are persecuted and discriminated against.

B. Is there much public discourse about LGBTs and LGBT issues?

C. What are the positions of the government, religion and politics towards gays? Do attitudes differ or is are attitudes united?

D. Are gays prominent in everyday life: culture, arts, media, politics, sports? Are there famous gays in your nation’s history?

E. Should nations adopt the Dutch attitude, the Georgian one, in between, both or neither?

F. What might happen in the future?