Parade standoff underscores gays' struggle for acceptance in Poland

Gay rights supporters vowed to take to the streets in Warsaw on Saturday even without city permission for a pride parade, in a dispute that highlights the problems gay men and lesbians face in this heavily Roman Catholic country. Mayor Lech Kaczynski, a leading candidate for president in elections later this year, refused to allow for the Equality Parade for a second consecutive year, saying he opposes any event that "propagates a homosexual lifestyle."

But defiant organizers are suing the mayor, saying he is breaking Polish and European Union laws guaranteeing freedom of assembly. Last year they defied his ban by rallying in front of City Hall. "Going through the Polish courts can take months or years, but we will do it," parade organizer Tomasz Baczkowski said. "We feel especially discriminated against in Poland, and such an event is really the only occasion...when we can tell people that our human rights are being violated."

Foreign activists and politicians, among them Germany's Greens Party chief Claudia Roth, plan to show their support by joining the marchers.

Parade organizers work out of a small apartment in a residential neighborhood, where their neighbors asked that they not post their name on the door to avoid trouble. A small rainbow sticker next to the door is the only external sign of the group's presence. Activist Szymon Niemiec said he has been attacked with stones and baseball bats in retaliation for his activism. "I fear for my life here," he said.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Warsaw condemned the city's decision, saying, "The right to freely assemble by people wanting to demonstrate views different than those of the majority is fundamental." But the mayor has popular support for his argument that "it would be very dangerous for our civilization to put homosexual rights on equal footing." If the parade takes place, "things would be OK this year, but then next year we could have Los Angeles or San Francisco here," Kaczynski told the Associated Press.

His view is backed by many in Poland, a country where homosexuality remained a taboo subject under Communist rule. Additionally, the Roman Catholic Church, strengthened by the influence of the late Polish-born Pope John Paul II, has also played a strong role in promoting a climate in which the prevailing view appears to be that of the mayor. Several political parties have expressed support for the mayor's decision, though outgoing president Aleksander Kwasniewski has been critical. "A democratic state can't ban a demonstration of a sexual minority or any other minority," Kwasniewski said on public radio this week. (AP)