European Parliament protest against anti-gay policy in Polish villages

The European Parliament has condemned Poland for establishing dozens of gay-free areas. With a broadly supported resolution, the European Parliament condemns the Polish conservative government party PIS, which allows and even encourages this policy of the cities.

With the establishment of 'LGBTI-free zones', more than eighty Polish cities and villages want to demotivate and reject the presence of LGBTIs. The 'policy' to set up these zones has no legal validity, so gays and lesbians cannot actually be banned from the cities.

Critics say that the Polish authorities do hate this and even fuel aggression against LGBTI people. The government newspaper Gazeta Polska even handed out stickers with anti-lhbti symbols to be able to distribute them in the cities that introduced the new rules.

In recent years, disagreements between European countries and Poland have increased due to the nationalist and conservative policies of the Polish government party PiS. In addition, there are all kinds of restrictions in the case that Warsaw imposes on the liberal freedoms advocated by the EU and EU institutions. Recently, Brussen and Warsaw clashed about silencing independent Polish judges.

The European Union wants Polish schools to bring gay rights to the attention of Polish pupils and stresses that European subsidies should not be used in any way for the "discriminatory policy".

The resolution was co-submitted by the Dutch liberal D66 MEP Sophie in 't Veld. She calls the establishment of the zones a "fundamental violation of human rights". She wants Europe to send a strong signal with the resolution, also to other Member States that do not have a high priority for LGBTI rights, such as Hungary.

The Polish government party PIS has won many votes in recent years with statements about "traditional norms and values", which in practice mean a curtailment of gay and women's rights.