At the time of the raging epidemic, the authorities at the last moment put on the agenda civic initiative bills extremely restricting access to abortion and to sex education. KPH called for rejection of both bills at first reading. The votes of majority of MPs directed the proposals for further works in the committees and can be proceeded at any time. It is a scandal that during an epidemic the Parliament is pushing forward projects that cause such social resistance. Just by the announcements of its introduction, we can already see the chilling effect of the law that aims to punish for reliable sex education, threatening teachers and educators with imprisonment. Now MPs will debate in committees whether young people can find out about their sexuality or whether a biology teacher should be jailed. – Magdalena Świder comments on today’s vote in the Sejm.

Last minute offer: shameful civic bills in the Sejm

Last week the case of abortion ban became loud again, because of the unexpected entries in the agenda of the upcoming sitting of the Sejm – scheduled for April 15th and 16th. Together with the barbaric bill on the ban of abortion, the bill restricting access to reliable sex education was introduced. The Sejm had six months to deal with these civic initiatives. It is significant that the ruling majority pulled them out at the last moment using the state of the epidemic, when street protests are impossible.

Rally beginnings – homophobic buses serving the fundamentalist project

We all remember them – cars with homophobic slogans, hatefully connecting LGBT people with pedophilia, have traveled all over Poland in recent months. As it turned out, the whole action served religious fundamentalists to collect signatures for the draft bill manipulatively named “Stop Pedophilia Act”. This project, however, has nothing to do with pedophilia: in reality it provides for punishment for reliable sex education.

The bill is an attempt to intimidate every person who transfers knowledge enabling youth to make informed and healthy decisions about their sex life. It will lead to absurd situations in which a doctor will be afraid to talk to a teenager about contraception, and a biology teacher will skip reproduction topics during the lesson. Not to mention parents who will also be afraid to talk to their own children about the improper touch. – explains Joanna Skonieczna from KPH.

The “Stop Pedophilia” bill will most of all affect young people, who already have limited access to reliable knowledge about human sexuality. Sex education is a basic activity that reduces the likelihood of becoming both a victim and perpetrator of sexual violence. The project carries the risk of increasing the probability of sexual violence, pedophilia, unwanted/teenage pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases.

Forcing to give birth at all costs

When the ruling majority wanted to restrict abortion laws in 2016, hundreds of thousands of people took to the Polish streets. Black Protests have shown a new scale of civil outrage: so large that the project was eventually rejected. Now, the ban is put to the vote again. It is being discussed at the time of the epidemic – when all of us are locked up in our homes.

A wave of protests sweeping across Poland

We didn’t have to wait long for the response of those who are affected by these laws. Protest events appeared on the internet in express mode, and the protest proposals were adapted to the epidemiological circumstances. And so, all over Poland, from Friday on, variety of protests took place: balcony protests, queuing for groceries protests and car protests. The mailboxes of MPs were flooded with messages of opposition. Organizations and media around the world have been writing about using the epidemic to pass shameful laws.

The first reading

Today the Sejm voted on the barbaric proposals. The votes of MPs directed the proposals for further works in the committees.

Now these bills can be pulled out of the ‘parliamentary freezer’ at a convenient time for the ruling party. For example, when there’s a need to cover something that could cause social outrage. – says Karolina Gierdal from KPH.

We do not fold our umbrellas

We will closely monitor the work of the committees on the shameful bills. We will not allow for instrumental exploitation of LGBT people by religious fundamentalists. We object to forced childbirth. We object to leaving children and young people without care and exposing them to the risks associated with sexual violence. We have been and will be ready to act. Authorities, we are watching you!

During the crisis, when hospitals and healthcare workers are overloaded, the government has no control over the situation, people are losing their jobs massively or are at risk of losing those, and entrepreneurs lose their sources of income, there is no space for a reliable public debate on topics related to human and reproductive rights.

Shameful draft bills in the Polish Parliament

On April 15th and 16th, 2020, the Parliament will debate on shameful, objectionable citizens’ initiative draft bills regarding – among others – restrictions on the right to abortion and access to reliable sex education. KPH opposes these two draft bills and demands their rejection at first reading.

According to KPH, it is outrageous that yet again women’s rights and the right to reliable sex education are used instrumentally and politically, especially now when citizens have no opportunity to express their disagreement on the street. KPH sees this as one of the elements of the current tactics of the ruling party. Controversial drafts are kept in the “parliamentary freezer” until a convenient time comes to get them out of there. Because they arouse public outrage, the government hopes to hide something that is uncomfortable for them. At the moment, this is a crisis caused by the epidemic and a desire to continue to rule, i.e. the forced election on May 10th. It is significant that this draft did not appear on the agenda before, but only on the last day of the sessions of the Parliament, just before the cut-off date.

KPH opposes the proceedings of both of these draft bills and demands the Parliament to reject them at first reading.

The STOP PEDOPHILIA bill as a tool for intimidation

The draft bill submitted as a citizens’ initiative has nothing to do with combating pedophilia. This draft bill is intended to be just another tool in the hands of religious fundamentalists to intimidate schools, teachers, principals and human rights NGOs.

The bill is defective for one basic reason: the new regulations prohibit the promotion or praise of something that is completely legal. The existing art. 200b of the Penal Code already penalizes praising or promoting pedophile behavior. Following the amendment, it will also be illegal to promote or praise a sexual intercourse by a minor, i.e. a person up to 18 years of age. At the same time, undertaking sexual activity is allowed from the age of 15 (Article 200 of the Penal Code). Thus, the bill states that the very undertaking of sexual activities will be legal when a minor reaches the age of 15, but promoting and praising – will be prohibited under penalty of law. This can lead to such absurd situations as punishing a 16-year-old who, in a peer group, enthusiastically talks about a specific way of undertaking sexual activities.

Threat in a country with lowered rule of law standards

Although “promoting” and “praising” a sexual intercourse is not the same as sex education, and a literal wording of the amended provisions cannot be interpreted as if the bill penalizes it as such, there is a huge threat that in a country where the prosecutor’s office is directly controlled by the Public Prosecutor General (who is a  Minister of Justice at the same time), he will use law enforcement authorities for political purposes. We can expect prosecutions and harassment of everyone who does not implement the party’s agenda.

More sexual violence – the bill will affect young people

The affected group would be primarily young people. At present, they already have a difficult access to reliable information and education about sexuality. As the Polish Sexuology Association claims in the statement about the bill (…) although the authors of the bill declare that their purpose is to “protect children and young people against sexual deprivation and demoralization”, the effect of the ban will be exactly the opposite – the threat of sexual violence in Poland will increase . This is because sex education is an essential tool that reduces the likelihood of becoming both a victim and a perpetrator of sexual violence. The Commissioner for Human Rights also spoke in a similar tone when dealing with myths about sex education.

The right to reliable sex education arises primarily from the right to education and – as the World Health Organization (WHO) points out – from the right to health protection and access to health-related information. Parents cannot expect that all content provided to children at school “will not be confronted with with opinions that are opposed to one’s own convictions” (as confirmed by the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights). In the case of sex education, the best interests of children should be given priority. Even adults are seeking helpful information on trusted websites like Plug Lust just to fill the void of knowledge that is caused by the lack of support from the government and society in the past years.

Chilling effect

KPH sees risks primarily in causing a chilling effect among all those involved in providing reliable sex education – including sex educators, school teachers, textbook authors, journalists. Although the words ‘promote’ and ‘praise’ have their specific meaning in criminal law and as such cannot be equated with sex education ( does a history teacher teaching about the famous battles promote it or praise it?), the justification of the act does not leaves no doubt in this matter.

The authors of the bill do not hide their intentions there and state explicitly that sex education based on the standards of the WHO should be prohibited. Therefore the justification of the bill can lead to wide interpretation on the part of politically controlled prosecutors. It is probable that, for example, providing reliable and consistent with scientific knowledge information about masturbation being a normal sexual behaviour, would be treated as “praising” or “promoting” masturbation to minors. This can led to consolidation of a wrong interpretation of this rule in practice and an avalanche of criminal proceedings. Even if the prosecutor would later drop the charges, the very risk of being of interest to the prosecution’s may have a chilling effect. Such proceedings may also result in bringing an indictment with the court. We hope that acquittals would be passed in courts, but they may be preceded by many years of long and exhausting trials. Additionally, the prosecutors have also a right to challenge those acquittals.

There is also a risk of instrumental use of these provisions by law enforcement authorities. Politicized and subordinate to the Public Prosecutor General (who is also the Minister of Justice), the prosecutor’s office must follow his guidelines.

STOP ABORTION draft bill- an attack on reproductive rights

The attack on reproductive rights is part of a larger strategy of the fundamentalist movement in Poland, as stated in a special report from the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual & Reproductive Rights.

The project constitutes a serious violation of women’s reproductive rights in Poland. The abortion procedure, which is already difficult to access, will be even more difficult to access. This raises huge controversy in a large part of the population, and at the same time during an epidemiological threat it is impossible to express disagreement on the streets, as it was the case during the Black Protests.

Public debate on human rights cannot take place in such conditions.

Therefore, KPH opposes the procedure of both of these laws and demands the Parliament to reject them at first reading.

Kuba, Paulina and Paweł created The Atlas of Hate in which they follow discriminatory resolutions adopted by local governments throughout Poland. The Atlas has already gained recognition all over the world. Now, the authors face a trial for indicating on the map of Poland the municipalities that have adopted the Local Government Charter of the Rights of the Family. Show solidarity with the heroic trio attacked by the radicals associated with Ordo Iuris – join the action “Stand up for Kuba, Paulina and Paweł! #HeroicTrio.”

While others were passively observing the discriminatory actions of local authorities, Kuba, Paulina and Paweł decided to act. Together they created The Atlas of Hate – a map of Poland on which they marked local municipalities that adopted the Local Government Charter of the Rights of the Family. And this brought the attention of the world to what’s happening in Poland. Now they are facing a trial for depicting local governments’ actions. A fundamentalist organisation Ordo Iuris convinced the local authorities to initiate legal proceedings against the heroic trio. During a press conference on Tuesday, 3^rd March, it was announced that they are planning to filed the first petition for infringement of personal rights to the court.

We won’t let them terrorize us

Kuba, Paulina and Paweł are those who the enemies of equality want to silence. Threatening with a lawsuit is nothing less than an attempt to censor the actions of human rights activists.

We are not afraid! We will continue our work in order to spread the truth about the discriminatory resolutions adopted by the local governments all over Poland – say Paulina Pająk, Kuba Gawron and Paweł Preneta.

The authors of The Atlas of Hate are not alone – legal support for Kuba, Paulina and Paweł is provided by the Legal Team of the Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH).

Warnings about possible lawsuits had been made before and, as the KPH Legal Team we are not surprised with the yesterday’s announcement. We are ready to take action and convince the Court that this is certainly not a case of defamation of local governments and the Local Government Charters of the Rights of the Family fully deserve to appear in the Atlas – says advocate Karolina Gierdal, the coordinator of the KPH Legal Team.

Stand by the heroic trio!

Just as important as legal aid is the solidarity with the heroic trio, who drew the world’s attention to the discriminatory resolutions. Show your support – take a picture signed “I stand up for Kuba, Paulina and Paweł! #HeroicTrio” and publish it in your social media. Let’s stand up for freedom and human rights! Let’s stand up for Kuba, Paulina and Paweł!

Uniwersytet Środkowoeuropejski (Central European University) w Wiedniu we współpracy z Kampanią Przeciw Homofobii uruchomił program stypendialny na kierunek Executive MBA skierowany do wybitnych managerów/ek LGBT z Polski. Osoba, która otrzyma stypendium, będzie mogła skorzystać z 90 proc. zniżki na wynoszące 25.000 Euro czesne. Stypendium jest skierowane do osób nieheteronormatywnych i niecispłciowych. Termin nadsyłania wniosków aplikacyjnych mija 22 marca.

Na czym polega stypendium?

Uniwersytet Środkowoeuropejski (CEU) we współpracy z Kampanią Przeciw Homofobii uruchomił wysoce konkurencyjny, oparty na kryteriach merytorycznych program stypendialny skierowany do wybitnych managerów/ek LGBT z Polski na kierunek Executive MBA. Osoba, która otrzyma stypendium, będzie mogła skorzystać z 90 proc. zniżki na wynoszące 25.000 Euro czesne.

Dowiedz się więcej o CEU Executive MBA – kliknij TUTAJ

Dowiedz się więcej o Uniwersytecie Środkowoeuropejski (CEU) 

Kto może starać się o stypendium?

Oferta stypendialna skierowana jest do osób nieheteronormatywnych i niecispłciowych, które odniosły sukces w zakresie przeciwstawiania się barierom i uprzedzeniom względem osób LGBT w Polsce i których praca zawodowa spotyka się z uznaniem.

Osoba ubiegająca się o stypendium musi spełnić następujące warunki opisane TUTAJ.

Liczba stypendiów: jedno.

Wniosek stypendialny

Osoby zainteresowane ubieganiem się o stypendium są zobowiązane wypełnić wniosek stypendialny do dn. 22 marca 2020 r.

Formularz dostępny TUTAJ

Aplikacje będą oceniane i rozpatrywane na bieżąco z możliwością wcześniejszego zakończenia rekrutacji w przypadku znalezienia odpowiedniego kandydata/tki.

Kto ocenia wnioski o stypendium?

Wnioski stypendialne będą oceniane przez komisję selekcyjną w składzie:

• Vyacheslav Melnyk – dyrektor zarządzający Kampanii Przeciw Homofobii
• Aleksandra Muzińska – Fundacja Stefana Batorego
• Mathias Moschel – kierownik katedry Legal Studies CEU
• Violetta Zenti – współdyrektorka Centrum Policy Studies CEU

W sytuacji, gdy osobą aplikującą na stypendium będzie pracownik/czka Kampanii Przeciw Homofobii lub Fundacji Batorego, osoby reprezentujące te organizacje zostaną wyłączone z procesu oceny aplikacji.

Poland joins the group of European countries which parliament will discuss introducing legal ban on conversion therapies. A similar bill is currently in being proceeded in  Germany and Ireland. In Poland the project was submitted to the parliament by a liberal party –  Nowoczesna, which worked on the draft alongside the biggest Polish LGBT organization – Campaign Against Homophobia.

The conversion pseudotherapies targeting the LGBT community have hit the headlines in Poland in March 2018, when the European Parliament published an annual report on the fundamental rights in the EU. The topic of pseudotherapies resurfaced in September of the same year, when The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities made an official recommendation for Poland and indicated a dire need to ban these practice altogether as soon as possible. Nowoczesna representatives immediately reacted to those recommendations and began working with Campaign Against Homophobia in order to create a bill that has just been submitted to the parliament.

The act created by Nowoczesna and Campaign Against Homophobia introduces a ban on using, offering the use of, promoting and advertising conversion practices as well as prohibits indicating persons or entities that offer, use, advertise or promote conversion pseudotherapy. Mirosława Makuchowska from Campaign Against Homophobia has weighed in on the issue:

Forcefully persuading somebody that if they try hard enough, they will be able to change their sexual orientation is an act of violence. There’s a good reason for the fact that the United Nations call such pseudotherapies a torture. In Poland there is no law that would ban such quackery and it’s high time it was changed.

In the next few months the first reading of the draft act will be held in the Polish parliament.

The Supreme Court’s sentence is a ground-breaking victory of equality in Poland! – commented Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH), Polish largest LGBT advocacy organization.  The appeal for cassation issued by the Minister of Justice and Public Prosecutor General regarding the case of a printer who had refused to print a roll-up banner for an LGBT organization on the grounds of homophobia was dismissed. The prior decision of the Court which had found the printer guilty remains valid.

The Supreme Court sentence is a ground-breaking victory of equality in Poland! Today marks a huge step towards the equality of LGBT rights and a reason for celebration for all the citizens of Poland who believe in equality, law and justice! – say the activists from KPH, Polish largest LGBT organization.

The Supreme Court’s decision confirmed that according to the article 38 of the Code of Petty Offences, a refusal of the access to services made to a non-heterosexual persons is prohibited. During the legal proceedings 4 sentences were ruled by courts of various degrees of jurisdiction. Each and every time the printer was found guilty.

This a clear signal from the administration of justice that LGBT persons living in Poland deserve equal treatment and protection of their dignity no matter who they are and who they fall in love with – says Paweł Knut from KPH in his reaction to the ruling of the Supreme Court – This sentence is yet another milestone towards obtaining full protection against discrimination for Polish LGBT citizens.

From the printing house to the Supreme Court – explained step-by-step

“I refuse to print a roll-up banner with the graphics I received. We are not contributing to the promotion of LGBT movement by our work”  – this was the content of the email received by the NGO “LGBT Business Forum”, which ordered a roll-up banner with the organization’s logo and its Facebook page address. The organization had notified the Ombudsman about the incident, who has passed it to the Police. In February 2016, the Police forwarded the case to the District Court. The Court found the employee guilty and punished him with a fine of 200 PLN. At that time, the Minister of Justice and Public Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro, got involved in the case by issuing a statement criticizing the verdict. On his request, the District Prosecutor’s Office in Lodz joined the proceedings. Finally, the case was referred to the District Court in Lodz, which confirmed the previous ruling. However, Minister Ziobro was not satisfied with the verdict and appealed to the Supreme Court, asking for the judgment to be quashed and the employee of the printing house acquitted. On June 14, the Supreme Court dismissed the case of the Prosecutor General, confirming that no one could be discriminated against on the grounds of sexual orientation in access to services.

Celebrating equality

Today’s verdict allows us to believe that soon the issues of legal changes affecting LGBT persons will gain their momentum. This will allow gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender persons living in Poland to live with dignity and on an equal footing with others – says Cecylia Jakubczak from KPH.

Undoubtedly, KPH’s lawyer representing LGBT Business Forum, Pawel Knut, is satisfied with the verdict, which he comments:

I believe and I hope that although the current Polish authorities are not willing to notice the existence of rights of LGBT people, we can count on minimum safety in Poland.

Same-sex couples living in Poland are feeling endangered. In an official document, the Deputy of Public Prosecutor General ordered for prosecutors to determine how many procedures are currently taking place regarding issuance of a certificate of marital status at the request of persons who married persons of the same sex abroad. After gaining that data prosecutors are to report their involvement in such procedures. We cannot allow for 2 millions of Polish LGBT people to live in fear of their country — wrote Campaign Against Homophobia (Kampania Przeciw Homofobii) in an official statement.

The Deputy of Public Prosecutor General Robert Hernand in a document addressed to regional prosecutors wrote that it’s unacceptable to accept a statement of joining a same-sex marriage by the Civil Registrar. As announced by National Public Prosecutor’s Office, Hernand reminded prosecutors of the necessity of obtaining the information about the ongoing proceedings regarding entering a foreign marriage certificate into the polish civil status records. After acquiring the data prosecutors will report taking a part in such procedure.

In an evaluation by experts from Campaign Against Homophobia — the biggest organisation in Poland protecting the rights of the LGBT community — the writing prepared by the National Public Prosecutor’s Office is aiming to discourage people in same-sex union from taking any steps towards having their relationships recognised by Polish law. In Campaign Against Homophobia’s opinion, the statement issued by the Prosecutor was both premature and redundant. There has been no ruling in Poland so far issued by any public authority or court that would result in the institutionalization of same-sex relationships. As such, there has been no situation that would require such reaction from the management of the Prosecutor’s Office. In Campaign Against Homophobia’s view, in his statement the Prosecutor does not recognize the difference between transcription of foreign act marriage certificate into Polish civil status records and the legal effects which such marriage certificate in Poland might cause. In response to the ‘mobilization’ from the side of the Prosecutor, we want to declare that Campaign Against Homophobia is ready to grant free legal help to every couple that should face obstacles in protecting their laws because of the Prosecutor’s document.

Full content of the Campaign Against Homophobia statement:

Campaign Against Homophobia expresses a deep concern over the content of a document addressing all regional prosecutors made by the Deputy of Public Prosecutor General Robert Hernand regarding registering foreign marriages between people of the same sex.

In his writing, the Deputy of Public Prosecutor General indicated that in cases of so-called transcriptions, i.e. entering foreign same-sex marriage certificates into Polish civil status records, prosecutors should report their involvement in this category of procedure in order to ‘protect the rule of law’. Campaign Against Homophobia, as an organisation protecting laws of LGBT people, cannot allow for 2 million of Poles to feel endangered by the state. In our assessment, the document prepared by the National Public Prosecutor’s Office has the intention of discouraging persons remaining in a same-sex union from attempting to have their union recognised by Polish law. In actions of the Prosecutor’s Office we see a resemblance to Operation ‘Hyacinth’, which consisted of actions taken by the state aimed at LGBT people.

In Campaign Against Homophobia opinion, the statement issued by the Prosecutor was both premature and redundant. There has been no ruling in Poland so far issued by any public authority or court that would result in the institutionalization of same-sex relationships. As such, there has been no situation that would require such reaction from the management of the Prosecutor’s Office.

In Campaign Against Homophobia’s view, in his statement the Prosecutor does not recognize the difference between transcription of foreign act marriage certificate into Polish civil status records and the legal effects which such marriage certificate in Poland might cause. The Prosecutor seems to equate these two situations. Contrary to the Prosecution’s opinion, transcription does not result in an obligation for the state of Poland to recognise the legal consequences of same-sex marriages that took place abroad. Transcription only validates the fact of issuing a marriage certificate and its force of evidence. In opinion of lawyer Paweł Knut, KPH attorney  — Transcription of a foreign marriage certificate does not lead to infringement of Polish law. It’s quite the opposite — transcription helps to protect the rule of law, to which the Prosecution has referred. Because of it, Polish public authorities can know whether a given person remains in a foreign marriage. It allows them for example to efficiently work against bigamy. Consciously refusing to use this information can paradoxically hurt the Polish law system.

In response to the ‘mobilization’ from the side of the Prosecutor, we want to declare that Campaign Against Homophobia is ready to grant free legal help to every couple that should face obstacles in protecting their laws because of the Prosecutor’s document.

“While the Warsaw gay clubs and LGBTQI community centers were still full of people celebrating the biggest yet Equality Parade in Warsaw, the news from Orlando shocked and saddened us in Poland. We all refreshed our social media and news feeds with disbelief. This despicable, vile act of terrorism was impossible to grasp with one’s mind. While the death toll of the most bloody and deadly armed attack on the LGBTQI community on the US soil was on the rise, one thing became clear – this dreadful act will have an enormous impact on the LGBTQI community worldwide.

We share President Obama’s view, that “this is a sobering reminder that attacks on any American – regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation – is an attack on all of us.” Yet, we were sickened and deeply alarmed by the reactions of the few American and Polish politicians, who were attempting to use this tragedy in their anti-Muslim and anti-immigration agenda. The lesson that terrorism has no religion is yet to be learnt by the great part of our society.

We strongly believe that, those who look for justification of the Orlando tragedy in ethnicity, religion or migration status of the perpetrator, are playing in the same team with terrorists, whose goal is to divide, terrorize and feed on the social unrest. We find it crucial in the times of turmoil to come together and express solidarity with families and friends of victims of the homophobic hate crime of this scale.

Furthermore, we call the political leaders of the world to give up on the dividing language, condemn homophobia, racism, and bigotry in the strongest terms, as these are responsible for the biggest tragedies and crimes of the human history. Lastly, we all need to remain vigilant to the acts of discrimination on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, social status, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, for love always wins”.

“This is the third attack on the Campaign Against Homophobia  during the recent weeks. In the 15-year history of our organisation, we have never been attacked so frequently”- says Mirosława Makuchowska, the Vice President of Camaign Against Homophobia (KPH), commenting on the incidents, which resulted in breaking the windows of the KPH’s office. According to her, recent developments in Poland are to be blamed on politicians, who are giving consent to such behaviour by their actions.

 This is the third attack on KPH’s office in last month. Fist attack took place on 3^rd of March, when three young men tried to break into the premises of the KPH, shouting offensive terms to the employees of the organisation. On the night of April 23th, unknown perpetrators broke the window pane of the KPH’s office.It’s worth noting that the Campaign Against Homophobia is not the only non-governmental organisation in Poland, which has been attacked recently. In March, unknown perpetrators threw a brick at the windows of Lambda Warszawa, which also works for LGBT human rights in Poland. According to Mirosława Makuchowska, these incidents are linked to the overall political situation in the country.

„I am confident that the repeated acts of aggression towards LGBT organizations are linked to the activities of PiS and the language they use towards vulnerable groups. Using phrases such as ‘the worst kind’ or ‘second-class people’ certainly encourages violence. We should also keep in mind that ‘the worst kind’ applies not only to LGBT organisations or feminists but to anyone who is not a supporter of PiS.”

Few weeks ago, 340 polish civil society organisations (CSOs) have sent an appeal to Prime Minister Beata Szydło to condemn the attacks on human right defenders and CSOs. However, governmental officials remained silent about the attacks.

As the incidents get frequent and more serious, KPH has launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover the costs of the damages. For supporting the cause, please donate through the following link.

“This is yet another attack on the Campaign Against Homophobia during the recent weeks. In the 15-year history of our organization, we have never been attacked so frequently”- says Mirosława Makuchowska, the Vice President of KPH, commenting on breaking the window pane at the office. According to her, recent developments in Poland are to be blamed on politicians, who are giving consent to such behavior by their actions. At the same time, Mirosława Makuchowska announced that KPH will intervene and launch a petition to the Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro.

On the night of April 13th, a young man broke the window pane of the KPH’s office. The event was recorded by a security camera, which had been installed in March, after three men tried to break into the office of the organization. On the video footage, one can see a young man making vulgar gestures toward the office of KPH and afterward approaches the window of the office. It’s worth noting that the Campaign Against Homophobia is not the only non-governmental organization in Poland, which has been attacked recently. In March, unknown perpetrators threw a brick at the windows of Lambda Warszawa, which also works for LGBT human rights in Poland. According to Mirosława Makuchowska, these incidents are linked to the overall political situation in the country.

“I am confident that the repeated acts of aggression directed to LGBT organizations are linked to the activities of PiS and the language they use towards vulnerable groups. Using phrases such as ‘the worst kind’ or ‘second-class people’ certainly encourages violence. We should also keep in mind that ‘the worst kind’ applies not only to LGBT organizations or feminists but to anyone who is not a supporter of PiS.”

Frequent attacks on human rights organizations also attracted the attention of the Ombudsman, Adam Bodnar. In the statement issued by the Ombudsman after the March attacks on the offices of KPH and Lambda, he qualified both events as hate crimes.

“Such incidents provoke questions about the efficiency of legislative measures to counter homophobic and transphobic violence and to enhance the protection of people, who experience it – says Pawel Knut, KPH lawyer. He also added that based on KPH’s observations, the Ministry of Justice does not plan to take any work on amending the Criminal Code that would increase the prosecution of homophobic and transphobic hate crimes.

Concerned by the frequency of recent incidents, Campaign Against Homophobia launched a public petition to the Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro. The purpose of the call is to urge the Minister to make necessary changes in the Criminal Code that would enhance the protection of LGBT people from violence.

Website with the petition to Minister Ziobro: https://kph.org.pl/apelarka/