Balancing Hope with Realism: The Struggle for Equality in Poland's LGBTQ Community

By Sarah Deal, HIA Fellow

Are hopes for equality for the LGBTQ community in Poland overly idealistic? We spent June 13^th discussing this idea at PZN, and learned about historical and current sentiments toward the LGBTQ community in Poland.  Social activists Agnieszka Weseli and Ewa Tomaszewicz separately addressed the fellows and each lecture was followed by many questions and discussion.  The day ended with an engaging fellows discussion in which fellows responded to common arguments against equal rights for LGBTQ people.  

The half-burnt rainbow sculpture in Plac Zbawiciela

Photo by Sarah Deal

Weseli was the first to address the group, laying out an organized and helpful timeline of the evolution of LGBTQ acceptance, opposition, and invisibility in the Polish community.  She outlined a narrative of homosexuality from early history to the modern-day, illustrating how political movements and religious ideology have largely shaped the way in which policies and response to LGBTQ communities has evolved over the last century, in particular.  Although Weseli acknowledged a general change in attitude towards non-heteronormative people—particularly in larger cities like Warsaw—she reminded us that laws remain the same and predicted that they would remain unchanged until lawmakers adopted the same attitude shift as the general public.  Ultimately, Weseli emphasized the importance for us to remember that change does not imply progress:

 “If you come from a small village with poor education and you’re jobless, your situation is totally different than a young homosexual guy who’s already finished studies and is working in Warsaw, for example, and can go to gay clubs and be an activist. In the last seven years, LGBTQ has changed a lot, but that does not mean it’s better than it used to be 20 years ago. It’s different.”

Agnieszka Weseli speaks with HIA Fellows
Photo by Sarah Deal

Ewa Tomaszewicz also expressed the belief that the current state of inequality in LGBTQ rights is not so much a societal problem as it is a problem with politics and the media.  Although the majority of society is just as uninterested in the ‘subject’ as it is tolerant, the government and journalists have special obligations as representative bodies to be not only interested in but also educated about the claims and concerns of all members of society, including the LGBTQ community.  The government, closely associated with the Catholic Church and the Church’s conservative politics, is unlikely to address the conflict between the constitutional prohibition of non-traditional marriages and the constitutional guarantee of non-discrimination and equality.  Thus, both speakers carefully balanced hopefulness with realism as they acknowledged the lack of political attention and dialogue concerning the unequal application of equal rights and non-discriminatory clauses to all people.

All members of society, not just the LGBTQ community, need to participate in activism in order to affect systematic change. It is truly a shame that LGBTQ activists in Poland need to take such a realist view because of the poor perception of LGBTQ rights in Poland. Regardless of religious beliefs or traditional values, citizens living in and benefiting from a democratic society have (at the very least) a legal obligation to uphold and fight for equal rights and protections under the law.  Perhaps the framework need only shift from one of defending homosexuality to one of defending equality of all humans, regardless of gender, sexuality, race, or any other factor.  An appeal to human rights can be used as a powerful tool for bringing diverse people and ideologies together around a common goal.  Standing up for the dignity and rights of a common humanity means moving from complicity and tolerance to action and activism.