ILGA, the International Association of Lesbians and Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals, has published this year’s Rainbow Europe, the most important European ranking examining the level of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) equality in Europe.
The conclusions are not optimistic:
- There have been no changes for the better in 49 percent of countries;
- for the second year in a row many countries are dropping down the ranking.
“This is a critical moment for LGBTI equality in Europe. Every year, more and more countries, including the greatest proponents of the fight for LGBTI rights, are neglecting their commitments to these people’s equality. At the same time, more and more governments are openly attacking the LGBTI community,” said ILGA Europe’s head Evelyne Paradis.
Publikujemy teksty po angielsku o sytuacji w Polsce, aby pełna informacja o sytuacji w naszym kraju docierała do czytelników i czytelniczek za granicą. Udostępnij znajomym mieszkającym poza Polską.
Marta K. Nowak w tekście „Polska homofobem Europy. W całej Unii żadne państwo nie traktuje obywateli LGBTI gorzej” przedstawia wyniki najnowszego rankingu „Rainbow Europe”. Polska spadła w nim na ostatnią pozycję pod względem praw osób LGBTI w całej Unii Europejskiej.
This sad news also applies to Poland, which has always looked bad in this respect, and is now the country which is officially worst at protecting its non-heteronormative citizens.
“This is a reflection of a terrifying reality,” commented Slava Melnyk, director of the Campaign Against Homophobia.
Poland’s fall
ILGA has published its ranking and map showing the level of equality annually since 2009. It is not based on public opinion, but on existing legislation affecting the situation of LGBTI people in each country surveyed.
Countries can be given ratings from 0 to 100 percent. 69 evaluated categories are divided into six sections:
- equality and non-discrimination;
- family;
- hate crimes and hate speech;
- civil liberties;
- gender reconciliation and bodily integrity;
- rights to asylum.
Among the countries of the European Union, Poland has been hovering around the second-lowest place in the ranking for several years, but this year it has hit bottom. We have scored only 16 percent out of a possible 100.
Outside the EU, among all 46 countries studied, only 7 countries are worse: the principality of San Marino, Belarus, the principality of Monaco, Russia (where the Chechen authorities have organised concentration camps for homosexuals), Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan.
We are way behind
The ranking – available at this link – checks point by point whether each country’s legislation protects LGBTI people in specific aspects. And we come out of it badly.
Polish legislation only protects against discrimination in employment (in the provisions of the Labour Code). The protection of LGBTI people’s rights is still unregulated in education or healthcare, not to mention any constitutional guarantee of this group’s rights.
When it comes to access to goods and services, it’s even worse. In the annual report (January-December 2019) about how the rights of LGBTI people in Europe are complied with, ILGA cites a judgement by the Constitutional Tribunal which concluded that services could be refused to LGBT organisations on the basis of a kind of ‘conscience clause’. This involved the famous case of a printer from Łódź who refused to do a job for the LGBT Business Forum Foundation.
There is no national strategy or plan to combat existing discrimination, and as soon as initiatives begin to arise at the local level, the government turns away from them, calling them an attack on Polish families.
As for family rights, Poland does not score a single point in this category. We have neither partnerships, marriages, nor pro-family policies for non-heteronormative people. We lost our last points in this category a year ago, when Poland reserved in-vitro for married couples, excluding single mothers and lesbian couples.
We have not made any progress in the category of counteracting hate crimes and hate speech either , despite repeated calls by the Commissioner for Human Rights, who demanded that aggression against LGBT persons be added to Article 119 § 1, Art. 256 § 1 and Art. 257 of the Penal Code, which define offences motivated by prejudices and prosecuted ex officio.
It’s a bit better when it comes to gender: it can be changed in Poland, but the process is still difficult, long and stigmatising. There are no legal solutions that would facilitate procedures for gender correction and allow a person to take an independent decision on their gender identity without undue interference from doctors or court experts.
Polish President Andrzej Duda buried any chances of improving the situation. As soon as he took office in 2015, he threw the bill on gender assignment which the ruling PO-PSL majority had adopted into the waste bin.
Poland did gain an additional point in the ‘right to asylum’ category thanks to a judgement by a regional court, which decided that a refugee who does not have Polish citizenship but lives in Poland can go through the gender assignment procedure.
The work of Commissioner for Human Rights Adam Bodnar, who has opposed discrimination against LGBTI people, has also been appreciated.
Overwhelmed by the lack of freedom to assemble and express ourselves
Why have we dropped to last place? We have suffered the biggest losses in scoring in the category of ‘freedom of assembly, association and expression’ – mainly, as KPH (Poland’s Campaign Against Homophobia) explains, because of the bans on equality marches issued by local governments.
“While we had just one ban in 2018, which could be treated as an exception to the rule, in 2019 the ban on equality marches became a constant practice of city mayors, who – fully aware that they were wrong and they would lose in court – banned them for political reasons,” says attorney Karolina Gierdal from KPH, who among others has defended the Equality March in Rzeszów in the courts.
Poland also lost a point regarding the operation of organisations without any obstruction by the state. This is a result of the Family Charter adopted by some local governments, as well as the so-called anti-LGBT resolutions, introducing so-called ‘LGBT-free zones’, among other things.
Poland has also lost its status as a safe country for activists and activists working for the LGBT community. The motives for this included the lawsuits against the authors of the Atlas of Hatred which monitors the implementation of LGBT-free zones; the police intervention against Elżbieta Podleśna for her ‘Rainbow Mary’ artwork; many actions undertaken by public television, such as TVP’s broadcast of Invasion; and the embedding of a spy in KPH, which OKO.press was first to report on.
A European step backwards
Last year, the authors of the ranking reported sadly that for the first time in 10 years, Europe had begun to regress by abolishing some of the existing rights and programmes supporting LGBTI equality.
“We warned last year against the danger of thinking that our work was done. Unfortunately, this year we can see concrete evidence that an increasing number of countries are withdrawing their LGBT protection in the political and legislative fields,” the head of ILGA Evelyne Paradis commented in 2019, calling for urgent action: “There is no time to lose.”
Unfortunately, this year doesn’t look good either. Although ILGA notes progress on trans and intersex rights, it advises caution in drawing optimistic conclusions. “Attacks on trans groups have been recorded in more and more countries in the region, especially in the form of hate speech spreading across the internet. The security and prosperity of trans communities in Europe are still uncertain, and have become even more fragile during the pandemic,” says Viima Lampinen from ILGA Europe’s board of directors.
ILGA has drawn attention to the stagnation regarding changes in favour of LGBT equality and the further restrictions of their rights in some countries. The most dramatic change for the worse was noted in Hungary, falling from 41 to 33 percent; France fell from 63 to 56 percent.
“In conjunction with the COVID-19 pandemic, which disproportionately strikes at the most vulnerable, and is being used by some governments as an excuse to accelerate the limitation of human rights, this year’s Map shows that we are facing a decisive moment for LGBT equality in Europe,” commented Paradis.
Well, if there is a percentage of people in the population with highly advanced scoliosis (they are humpbacked), then does it follow that the building law should be changed in such a way that walls can be built semicircular? I emphasize that I have absolutely nothing against those suffering from scoliosis, just like against LGTB people (people, not LGTB ideology). Similarly – I have nothing against women, but I don't accept the ideology of feminism. Genderism, feminism, multiculturalism – these are leftist ideologies that destroy family, nation and tradition. Poland is a wonderful country, which values freedom, independence and tradition. We Poles will set a dam for leftism.
You should be ashamed. You say you have nothing against non-heteronormative people, yet you compare their identity to a medical condition? Horrible. There are common language phrases in polish that allow its users to pose as 'progressively thinking', yet they carry a passive warning to all LGBTQ identifying that they should not express themselves fully as they will not be accepted.
Ka Rad "non-heteronormative people"
Cóż za szkaradny żargon – non-hetero-normative. Dziwna sekta.
Basically this is the typical comment "I'm not racist, BUT… I think n***ers shouldn't have the right to vote and should stay apart from the white", but translated into the LGBT+ topic.
This is shit that sucks.
The study is not about "the whole society should serve the interests of LGBT+ people and only theirs", it's just about accepting LGBT+ people as normal humans and stop being barbarians.
Even ancient civilizations were more tolerant than some now.
Also, the whole comment is simply disgusting, in every topic it covers, and simply a sophism about: muh left bad, muh lgbt people degenerates, muh multiculturalism bad, a distorted and exaggerate comparison and a nonsense about how lgbt people and multiculturalism ruin the country.
I thought the nazi left Poland the last century, but as I see there's still some barbarism.
All my hopes in a tolerant and open-minded youth.
Lesbians, Gays are normal in terms of physics. Trans not and what they do also isn't. All of them is not when you consider nature state.
I don’t identify non-heteronormative people with their medical condition. I only use the metaphor with scoliosis sufferers to sharpen the absurd demands of non-heteronormative people. I emphasize I am tolerant of people as people. However, I don't accept LGTB ideology – and this is something completely different. Lefties just tend to set up discussions the way they suit them. Leftism I think, is the biggest threat to the so-called western culture; hopefully other cultures will somehow get better.
“I thought the nazi left Poland the last century, but as I see there's still some barbarism”.
Nazism (German racism) has nothing to do with it. The real threat is internationalist totalitarianism in the leftist version.
Can you then please explain to me what is LGBTQ ideology? Where do you draw the line between normal life and ideology? Is being able to live wherever you want too much? ( polish LGBTQ free zones). Is being equal to law too much? Is being able to have a civil partnership with the person you want to spend your life with too much? Is being able to visit them in the intensive care unit too much? What about raising a child that otherwise would be living in a foster home? If LGBTQ community would get their rights they would just happily get on with their lives. They are not going to become a cult knocking on your door trying to convince you that you are queer. They won't do that because of ALL people they know best that individuals are very different and shouldn't be judged on their way of living
The problem is, you use meaningless slogans instead of thinking. There is no such thing like "LGBT ideology", you misuse term "leftism" (see dictionary to check it) etc. You conduct some ideological war with clichéd labels. It has nothing in common with honest thinking and doesn't lead to any understanding.
I think there are more important problems than problems of the few LGBT people.
1. Ideology is views on reality that represent the value system of certain social groups. These views constitute the basis for specific actions. For example, the reality is women and the ideology is feminism. The difference is obvious. Similarly: LGTB people are reality and ideology – LGTB and Gender ideology. This probably requires no further consideration.
2. LGTB and Gender ideology include postulates:
– First of all – tolerance. Normally, tolerance means respecting one's views, behaviors and differences, but without having to accept. In LGTB and Gender Ideology, it primarily means demanding acceptance.
– Secondly – LGTB and Gender ideology calls for combating (fighting with) homophobia – aversion towards non-heterosexual people. It assumes that a heterosexual person is by definition homophobic.
– Third – The LGTB and Gender ideology postulates a change in laws to combat homophobia. Although in practice hardly anyone pays attention to non-heterosexual people. Just the ideology of LGTB and Gender makes a scream to publicize.
– Fourth – the LGTB and Gender ideology persuades heterosexuals that they recognize heterosexism, i.e. they preach the view of the superiority of heterosexuality.
3. “(polish LGBTQ free zones)” – it was just a provocation of LGTB people; something like a happening. And the naive considered it something real.
4. “Leftism” = “extreme left”.