Q: What is happening in Poland regarding LGBTQIA+ people and their rights?
A: Well, it’s not really safe for the LGBTQ community because the government has been doing this thing.. They have been using the LGBTQ community to gain more power and appeal to people with these extremist political views. It’s also connected to religion because Poland is very Christian, I would say. It’s been a part of our culture for some time. They’ve been calling the LGBTQ people an ideology that’s like a deviation or stuff like that. And they've been connecting all of these progressive, liberal, or leftist political views with the LGBTQ community and creating this public enemy. They’ve been saying that the LGBTQ community wants to destroy the Polish catholic family model.. Like the traditional thing. They’ve been saying that they will be forcing children to change their gender or to have a sex-change operation. They’ve been connecting everything about sexual education with the LGBTQ community, and saying that teaching it in schools would harm children. I feel like many regular people don’t really know anyone who is a part of the LGBTQ community, and that’s why they tend to believe this stuff, because they are manipulated to believe these things that the government is saying. That’s why people vote for them or believe that the government is good because they believe that it will protect their traditions, or what makes Poland this good country. That it will protect their identity as Polish people. When actually, it’s just ordinary people that are part of the LGBTQ+ community who suffer. It’s not very safe when you’re openly LGBTQ because a lot of people [have the popular opinion] that the LGBTQ community is some sort of enemy. That they are not real citizens. It’s seen as some sort of unnatural thing.
Q: Are you living in Poland?
A: Yeah. My city had this story of the first gay pride parade, which happened last year in the summer. It’s what inspired me to make this documentary about the LGBTQ community here, in my city because where I live is said to be the most dangerous. The region where a lot of far-rights are. The police don’t do anything with them. It’s very very safe for them to act upon their extremist views. When the pride parade happened last year, it was very dangerous because Neo-Nazis and other people who were against the pride parade gathered at the place where the parade was starting. There were whole groups that had speeches on why this is wrong, why this parade shouldn't take place, why it’s a threat to other citizens. There were religious groups, nationalist groups. It was a very scary moment. Just looking at the footage from it, it was so terrifying, or talking to people who were there, it’s just very scary. No one really expected that something like that would happen because there were masses of people who were protesting the gay pride parade. It was especially dangerous because the police weren’t doing their job protecting the people who were marching in the pride parade. They weren’t prepared enough to deal with such a scene. It was very dangerous. Part of the reason why something like that can happen [because] the government allows for these sort of things to happen. They even praise it. Because there was no response from the government that would criticize the aggressors. There were responses that didn’t openly praise them… but none of them stood on our side. I saw this one minister say that “that’s why pride parades shouldn’t take place because we’re asking for all of this violence to happen. Because its not Polish tradition.
Q: Has there been any LGBTQIA+ free zones in Poland?
A: Yes. Some regions in Poland are declared to be LGBTQ free zones. My city isn’t one, but smaller towns around it are. And also some places in the south, the south-east. It’s more like a performance from the government because you can’t hunt these people down. Not everyone is open about their sexuality or gender identity. So it’s not like they’re hunting these people down. But, yeah. It’s more like this performative move to make us afraid. To say that Poland is not a place for the LGBTQ community. To further [allow] these people who are against the LGBTQ community to keep being against us and attacking us. Some cities that have declared to be LGBTQ free zones are losing their partnerships with other cities in the European Union. They get some money from the European Union and can collaborate on different projects. Like [building] different facilities for technology and for students, just developing the city. Because they declared to be LGBTQ free zones, the European Union is no longer allowing them to have these partnerships and get these funds. It’s not really of benefit to the citizens of these places. I don’t know, because the government wants to make the LGBTQ people this enemy. It’s a tool of manipulation of the masses to get them more power to re-elect them.
Q: Are there any people inside of Poland that are standing up against the government?
A: Yeah. There are different organizations. They organize pride parades, they provide help for the LGBTQ community. They hold meetings or movie-screenings. Just safe spaces where the LGBTQ people can meet and talk and feel comfortable, meet some new friends. I also saw today this fundraiser for trans women. They are raising money… for trans fems especially. This group of LGBTQ anarchists became quite popular recently. There’s this organization that promotes anti-LGBTQ slogans and misinformation on posters and billboards, like that [the LGBTQ community wants] to force your children to have a sex-change operation. You can spot their van just going around the city. The organization of the anarchists destroyed the van. That’s how they got popular because one of the activists of the group got arrested for it. It was like this big thing. They sent her to jail for two months, but she managed to get out early with the help of some lawyers. It was this big thing because who goes to jail for destroying a van? It was just not an adequate punishment for what she did. That’s why people got outraged. So there’s some people that are working against it. As we saw from that situation with the activists going to jail, it’s not really that safe. They’re trying to stop us. I believe it’s more to make us afraid, but I don’t think the people are going to give up that easily. There’s still a lot of activists working for the LGBTQ+ community. That’s good.
Q: What can people do to help if they don’t live in Poland?
A: I think the most effective thing is donating to different organizations or crowd-fundings. Because they do a lot of great work and don’t always have the resources. There are different ones you can find that are accepting donations. Also talking about it is good. Spreading awareness. Helping your local LGBTQ+ people in your community is good. It is all interconnected these days. It’s a fight that is present everywhere around the world. Working for justice and liberation anywhere is good, and can really inspire change in different parts of the world.
A: Well, it’s not really safe for the LGBTQ community because the government has been doing this thing.. They have been using the LGBTQ community to gain more power and appeal to people with these extremist political views. It’s also connected to religion because Poland is very Christian, I would say. It’s been a part of our culture for some time. They’ve been calling the LGBTQ people an ideology that’s like a deviation or stuff like that. And they've been connecting all of these progressive, liberal, or leftist political views with the LGBTQ community and creating this public enemy. They’ve been saying that the LGBTQ community wants to destroy the Polish catholic family model.. Like the traditional thing. They’ve been saying that they will be forcing children to change their gender or to have a sex-change operation. They’ve been connecting everything about sexual education with the LGBTQ community, and saying that teaching it in schools would harm children. I feel like many regular people don’t really know anyone who is a part of the LGBTQ community, and that’s why they tend to believe this stuff, because they are manipulated to believe these things that the government is saying. That’s why people vote for them or believe that the government is good because they believe that it will protect their traditions, or what makes Poland this good country. That it will protect their identity as Polish people. When actually, it’s just ordinary people that are part of the LGBTQ+ community who suffer. It’s not very safe when you’re openly LGBTQ because a lot of people [have the popular opinion] that the LGBTQ community is some sort of enemy. That they are not real citizens. It’s seen as some sort of unnatural thing.
Q: Are you living in Poland?
A: Yeah. My city had this story of the first gay pride parade, which happened last year in the summer. It’s what inspired me to make this documentary about the LGBTQ community here, in my city because where I live is said to be the most dangerous. The region where a lot of far-rights are. The police don’t do anything with them. It’s very very safe for them to act upon their extremist views. When the pride parade happened last year, it was very dangerous because Neo-Nazis and other people who were against the pride parade gathered at the place where the parade was starting. There were whole groups that had speeches on why this is wrong, why this parade shouldn't take place, why it’s a threat to other citizens. There were religious groups, nationalist groups. It was a very scary moment. Just looking at the footage from it, it was so terrifying, or talking to people who were there, it’s just very scary. No one really expected that something like that would happen because there were masses of people who were protesting the gay pride parade. It was especially dangerous because the police weren’t doing their job protecting the people who were marching in the pride parade. They weren’t prepared enough to deal with such a scene. It was very dangerous. Part of the reason why something like that can happen [because] the government allows for these sort of things to happen. They even praise it. Because there was no response from the government that would criticize the aggressors. There were responses that didn’t openly praise them… but none of them stood on our side. I saw this one minister say that “that’s why pride parades shouldn’t take place because we’re asking for all of this violence to happen. Because its not Polish tradition.
Q: Has there been any LGBTQIA+ free zones in Poland?
A: Yes. Some regions in Poland are declared to be LGBTQ free zones. My city isn’t one, but smaller towns around it are. And also some places in the south, the south-east. It’s more like a performance from the government because you can’t hunt these people down. Not everyone is open about their sexuality or gender identity. So it’s not like they’re hunting these people down. But, yeah. It’s more like this performative move to make us afraid. To say that Poland is not a place for the LGBTQ community. To further [allow] these people who are against the LGBTQ community to keep being against us and attacking us. Some cities that have declared to be LGBTQ free zones are losing their partnerships with other cities in the European Union. They get some money from the European Union and can collaborate on different projects. Like [building] different facilities for technology and for students, just developing the city. Because they declared to be LGBTQ free zones, the European Union is no longer allowing them to have these partnerships and get these funds. It’s not really of benefit to the citizens of these places. I don’t know, because the government wants to make the LGBTQ people this enemy. It’s a tool of manipulation of the masses to get them more power to re-elect them.
Q: Are there any people inside of Poland that are standing up against the government?
A: Yeah. There are different organizations. They organize pride parades, they provide help for the LGBTQ community. They hold meetings or movie-screenings. Just safe spaces where the LGBTQ people can meet and talk and feel comfortable, meet some new friends. I also saw today this fundraiser for trans women. They are raising money… for trans fems especially. This group of LGBTQ anarchists became quite popular recently. There’s this organization that promotes anti-LGBTQ slogans and misinformation on posters and billboards, like that [the LGBTQ community wants] to force your children to have a sex-change operation. You can spot their van just going around the city. The organization of the anarchists destroyed the van. That’s how they got popular because one of the activists of the group got arrested for it. It was like this big thing. They sent her to jail for two months, but she managed to get out early with the help of some lawyers. It was this big thing because who goes to jail for destroying a van? It was just not an adequate punishment for what she did. That’s why people got outraged. So there’s some people that are working against it. As we saw from that situation with the activists going to jail, it’s not really that safe. They’re trying to stop us. I believe it’s more to make us afraid, but I don’t think the people are going to give up that easily. There’s still a lot of activists working for the LGBTQ+ community. That’s good.
Q: What can people do to help if they don’t live in Poland?
A: I think the most effective thing is donating to different organizations or crowd-fundings. Because they do a lot of great work and don’t always have the resources. There are different ones you can find that are accepting donations. Also talking about it is good. Spreading awareness. Helping your local LGBTQ+ people in your community is good. It is all interconnected these days. It’s a fight that is present everywhere around the world. Working for justice and liberation anywhere is good, and can really inspire change in different parts of the world.
