Presidential election: Duda takes flak for ‘LGBT ideology’ comment

With the delayed presidential election just days away, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and his ally, the ruling right-wing nationalist and populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, have been accused of attacking the LGBT+ community and severely criticized for their “homophobic hate speech” and “dehumanizing” remarks.

Seeking reelection on June 28, Duda has called the promotion of LGBT rights an “ideology” more destructive than communism, in a campaign speech. Critics say that before every election PiS finds a soft target for their demagoguery, pretends there is some “national threat” and has an anti-gay agenda this time. PiS has been accused of democratic backsliding and erosion of the rule of law since winning a parliamentary majority in 2015. It has often hit out at gay rights and what it calls “LGBT ideology,” in rhetoric that is popular with parts of its base in the staunchly Catholic country and the Catholic church.

Recently, Duda signed a declaration drafted for the stated purpose of helping families that included language on “protecting children from LGBT ideology” with a ban on “propagating LGBT ideology in public institutions.”

Meanwhile, PiS politicians caused a furor and Twitter storm after making “homophobic” and “dehumanizing” comments. Recently, Joachim Brudziński, ultra-conservative PiS MEP, stated on Twitter that “Poland without LGBT is the most beautiful,” even as Jacek Żalek, PiS MP, said on TV that “LGBT are not people, this is an ideology.” Przemysław Czarnek, PiS MP and member of Duda’s electoral campaign staff, said: “Let’s stop listening to these idiocies about some human rights or some equality. These [LGBT+] people are not equal to normal people.”

(AP, BBC, NaTemat.pl1, NaTemat.pl2, OKO.press, The Guardian)