A gay New York
City man has filed a complaint against the Polish
president for using a photo of him and his partner in a
national speech condemning homosexual marriage, a
Polish official said in comments broadcast Wednesday.
The image of
Brendan Fay's wedding with his partner was woven into
President Lech Kaczynski's televised address to the nation
Monday night. It was shown as the president warned
against the dangers of adopting the EU's new treaty
and its Charter of Fundamental Rights, which Kaczynski
says could open the door to same-sex marriage in Poland.
It was not clear
where Kaczynski obtained the picture.
Fay submitted his
complaint to the Polish consulate in New York,
according to consul Krzysztof Kasprzyk.
''In his letter,
Fay expressed his sorrow and regret that his and his
life partner's privacy was violated,'' Kasprzyk said in
comments broadcast Wednesday on Poland's TVN24
television.
Kasprzyk told
Poland's PAP news agency that Fay maintained ''he never
would have given the go-ahead to used the photograph from
his same-sex marriage.''
Fay also
''expressed frustration that a picture from what he called a
joyful day from his life was used to spread intolerance,''
Kasprzyk told PAP.
There is little
support for same-sex marriage in Poland, a deeply
Catholic country which joined the European Union in 2004.
The Polish constitution states that marriage is only
between a man and a woman.
As mayor of
Warsaw, Kaczynski refused to grant parade permits for gay
rights marches, while his twin brother, former prime
minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has said ''it's not in
the interest of any society to increase the number of
homosexuals.'' (AP)
