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)