15:12 19 July 2020
‘LGBT-free zone’: Dutch city severs ties with Polish twin
A city in the Netherlands has “unfriended” its sister city in Poland after the latter declared itself an “LGBT-free zone.”
Nieuwegein, a city near Utrecht in the central Netherlands, released a statement announcing the immediate end to its friendly relationship with Puławy, eastern Poland, recently.
The Nieuwegein City Council called on the municipal executive council to cut off ties after becoming aware of recent reports on the treatment of members of the LGBT+ community in Puławy.
“LGBT-free zone” refers to some regions of Poland which, from the beginning of 2019, began declaring themselves unwelcoming of an alleged “LGBT ideology.” As of June 2020, some 100 municipalities (including five provinces), encompassing about a third of the country, declared themselves “LGBT-free zones.”
Since gaining control of the Polish parliament on the basis of a fragile majority in 2015, the governing pro-Catholic right-wing nationalist and populist Law and Justice (PiS) party and its loyal ally, President Andrzej Duda, along with Catholic Polish archbishops have repeatedly attacked LGBT+ people. According to the latest statistics, the vast majority of Poles are staunchly Catholic. PiS has been accused of using “enemies of Poland” rhetoric, including bashing immigrants, especially before elections.
(CNN)
