LGBT Community Despairs as Polish President Begins New Term
LGBT activists hold a rainbow flag with the Polish coat of arms as they protest outside parliament in Warsaw on Aug. 6.
Photographer: Omar Marques/Getty Images
As Polish President Andrzej Duda began a second five-year term on Thursday, the country’s LGBT community was feeling more vulnerable than ever.
Duda, an ally of the right-wing governing party, narrowly won re-election last month with campaign pledges including a ban on adoptions by gay couples. Since his victory, confirmed this week by the Supreme Court, a ruling-party lawmaker said LGBT ideology stems from the same root as Adolf Hitler’s national socialism, and police detained activists who hung rainbow flags from religious monuments in Warsaw. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki compared their acts to the destruction of the capital by Nazi Germany.