Poll: Poland
growing more tolerant of gays

Tolerance of gay men and lesbians has grown in Poland, a predominantly Roman Catholic nation, amid increasing media coverage and public debate concerning a once-taboo subject, a new survey suggested Friday. Some 46% of Poles believe gay couples should have the right to civil unions, with the same legal and financial benefits as married couples, up from 34% in April 2003, according to a poll by the CBOS agency. "Different political groupings, particularly on the left and center, [have] put forward the idea that such a civil union should be part of the law," said Michal Wenzel, a CBOS researcher. "Apparently the public has increasingly been accepting of such a legal solution as a result of this publicity." Still, 72% of Poles oppose legalizing traditional marriage for gays and lesbians, which includes the right to adopt children. "Equating homosexual and heterosexual unions is still opposed by a decisive--and not diminishing--majority of Poles," the study said. The poll, which surveyed 1,021 people July 1-4, has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. Homosexuality was a taboo subject under Communist rule, and the Roman Catholic Church, strengthened by the influence of late Polish-born pope John Paul II, also disapproves of gays and lesbians. In early June more than 2,000 people participated in a gay rights parade in Warsaw, defying a ban by the city's conservative mayor and sparking an anti-gay rights parade a week later. Poland's entry into the European Union last year might have had an "indirect influence" on the apparent increase in tolerance for gays and lesbians, Wenzel added. Earlier this year Spain legalized same-sex marriage, following the Netherlands and Belgium. (AP)