Dismantling Poland’s “LGBT-Free Zones” By: Rachel Conner

The Rainbow Map, created by ILGA-Europe, ranks 49 European countries on a scale from 0% to 100% based on the laws and policies in place within that country; 0% represents a country that engages in gross violations of human rights and discrimination and 100% represents a country that respects human rights and full equality rights.[1] Poland remains in the bottom 20% of countries on the Rainbow Map scale with a percentage of 17.50%.[2] One of the stand-out issues involving Poland’s treatment of the LGBTQIA+ community was the introduction of “LGBT-free zones.”[3] Dozens of cities in Poland, predominantly in the southeast, declared themselves “LGBT-free zones,” which declared themselves unwelcoming of equal rights for LGBTQIA+ individuals and encouraged the country’s right-wing political agenda.[4]The zones also banned equality marches, pride celebrations, and other LGBTQIA+ related events.[5] By 2019, one-third of the country was covered in “LGBT-free zones.”[6]

Poland had been facing a rule-of-law crisis going back to at least 2017, prior to the enactment of the zones.[7] It was so dire that the European Union initiated an Article 7 proceeding against Poland, which suspended certain rights for member states if they are deemed to persistently be in breach of the EU’s fundamental values.[8] Poland has ignored these rulings and continued to enforce discriminatory regulations.[9] Poland’s history with LGBTQIA+ rights has been challenging; it was not until 1989 that LGBTQIA+ rights activism really began to gain momentum.[10] Similar to other countries, like the U.S., equal rights for the community has been forged by hard work and often diminished by those in political power.[11] In 2015, a strongly conservative political party came into power in Poland, which lead to weakened protection of LGBTQIA+ rights and even a limitation of these rights by the subsequent creation of the zones.[12] The conservative parties seem to align heavily with views of the Catholic church in Poland.[13] For example, Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture is an ultra-conservative organization that had increasingly influenced the social and political climate in Poland, and further, it has claimed to be promote a rethinking of Poland’s legal framework.[14] This organization had a heavy hand in the creation of the zones.[15] The “LGBT-free zones” caused further legal issues for Poland as these declared zones lacked legal basis.[16] The European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the zones because they broke basic fundamental human rights and it lead to the EU to stop funding municipalities.[17] These lead to some zones being disestablished, however, not enough for there to be a substantive change for Poland’s overall anti-LGBTQIA+ discrimination.[18] Legal action was pursued and multiple lawsuits were filed by activists to draw international attention to Poland’s discriminatory “LGBT-free zones” after the enactment of these regulations.[19] On April 21, 2023, the first final verdict in favor of the activists was handed down, which lead to the beginning of the end of these zones.[20] These lead to more of a fight by human rights organizations to continue the fight for fundamental rights for the LGBTQIA+ community in Poland.[21] In early 2024, the Warsaw Voivodeship Administrative Court annulled a March 2019 resolution.[22] With this annulment, the last document “against the LGBT ideology” disappeared from Poland.[23] However, there are still documents and resolutions in force by Ordo Iuris; while the documents do not directly reference the LGBTQIA+ community, they promote family and education principles that are consistent with the traditional Catholic doctrine.[24] So while the “LGBT-free zones” have legally been dismantled, the fight for equality for the LGBTQIA+ community still continues.

The impact of these regulations was severe to the LGBTQIA+ community. The annual suicide attempt rate increased by 16% after the enactment of these regulations.[25] It was reported that many gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Poles emigrated to escape persecution from living within these “LGBT-free zones,” and many had to leave the places they called home.[26] Many reported that they felt scared for the first time in their life based on their sexuality and were made to believe that they were the public enemy.[27] While some outside the LGBTQIA+ community were not supportive of the zones and the stripping of fundamental rights, others openly supported the zones and continue to promote hateful rhetoric alongside them.[28] One individual told the BBC, “They [the LGTBQIA+ community] don’t want to fit into our society, and we don’t want them in this town.”[29] Another individual saying, “They are weakening the nation, and that’s the goal of Poland’s enemies…And that’s what these gays are trying to do.”[30] In order to combat this violation of basic human rights, many groups turned to legal relief.[31]

So, while the zones have been disestablished, the impact could remain the same for some time. Lehigh University states that even repealing all these acts may not be enough to counteract the negative of the prior bills.[32] Chad Meyerhoefer states, “Even when anti-LGBT laws do not directly restrict the rights of LGBT individuals, or only affect some individuals, they have broader negative consequences for population mental health.”[33] The subsequent repeal of the laws has been too recent to be able to predict how it will impact the LGBTQIA+ community in Poland but it is likely that the ramifications of those anti-discriminatory laws will leave a lasting negative impact on the community in Poland.[34]

The future of LGBTQIA+ rights in Poland is likely slow moving, but even so, there is a strong and resilient activist movement that prevails.[35] Poland’s ignorance of the EU’s push to get the country to comply with the EU’s fundamental values and the backslide of LGBTQIA+ ideology has pushed Poles to essentially start over on their fight to equal rights, but this has not diminished their motivation for equality.[36] As it stands, same-sex marriage and civil unions are not recognized in Poland and the long road it has been to get that recognition has not seen an end yet.[37] As of 2023, 54% of Poles believe in marriage equality, which is higher than the 46% in 2020; change and equality is possible in Poland, even if ages behind the rest of the EU.[38] The new Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, promised he would legalize civil unions, and in July of 2024, a bill introducing same-sex civil unions was added to the government’s agenda.[39]There are many hurdles still to come, but dismantling the “LGBT-free zones” has been a major win for the community and has continued to propel the fight for equal rights for all in Poland.

[1] ILGA-Europe, About, RainbowMap, https://rainbowmap.ilga-europe.org/about/ (last visited Sept. 15, 2024).

[2] ILGA-Europe, 2024 Rainbow Map, RainbowMap, https://rainbowmap.ilga-europe.org (last visited Sept. 15, 2024).

[3] Sina Behrend, Between Repression and Hope: Being Queer in Poland, Friedrich Naumann Found. (July 7, 2023), https://www.freiheit.org/central-europe-and-baltic-states/between-repression-and-hope-being-queer-poland.

[4] Rob Schmitz, After Years of Legal Discrimination, Poland’s Same-Sex Couples Await Civil Union Law, NPR (Mar. 6, 2024), https://www.npr.org/2024/03/06/1234777108/poland-lgbtq-rights-same-sex-civil-unions.

[5] Behrend, supra note 3.

[6] Una Hajdari, Could Poland’s Controversial LGBT-Free Zones Finally Be Consigned to History?, EuroNews (July 21, 2023), https://www.euronews.com/2023/07/21/could-polands-controversial-lgbt-free-zones-finally-be-consigned-to-history.

[7] Id.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] Behrend, supra note 3.

[11] Jon W. Davidson, A Brief History of the Path to Securing LGBTQ Rights, ABA (July 5, 2022), https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/intersection-of-lgbtq-rights-and-religious-freedom/a-brief-history-of-the-path-to-securing-lgbtq-rights/. (discussing U.S.’s hard work to equal rights for LGBTQIA+ individuals).

[12] Behrend, supra note 3.

[13] Behrend, supra note 3.

[14] Anton Ambroziak, The Court Overturned the Latest Resolution Against the “LGBT Ideology”, OKOPress (Feb. 6, 2024), https://oko.press/sad-uchylil-ostatnia-uchwale-przeciwko-ideologii-lgbt; Hajdari, supra note 6.

[15] Hajdari, supra note 6.

[16] Behrend, supra note 3.

[17] Behrend, supra note 3.

[18] Behrend, supra note 3.

[19] Claudia Zygmunt, Polish Activists Win Cases Against “LGBT-Free Zones”, Hum. Rts. Watch (May 8, 2023), https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/08/polish-activists-win-cases-against-lgbt-free-zones.

[20] Id.

[21] Behrend, supra note 3.

[22] Ambroziak, supra note 14.

[23] Ambroziak, supra note 14.

[24] Ambroziak, supra note 14.

[25] Chad Meyerhoefer, Bingjin Xue, & Anna Poznanska, Implications of the Decline in LGBT Rights for Population Mental Health: Evidence from Polish “LGBT-Free Zones”, NBER (Sept. 2023), https://www.nber.org/papers/w31702#:~:text=We%20investigate%20the%20consequences%20of,enactment%20of%20anti%2DLGBT%20statutes.

[26] Lucy Ash, Inside Poland’s ‘LGBT-Free Zones’, BBC (Sept. 20, 2020), https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-54191344.

[27] Rob Picheta & Ivana Kottasová, ‘You Don’t Belong Here’, CNN, https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/10/world/lgbt-free-poland-intl-scli-cnnphotos/ (last visited Sept. 15, 2024). 

[28] Ash, supra note 26.

[29] Ash, supra note 26.

[30] Ash, supra note 26.

[31] Zygmunt, supra note 19.

[32] Dan Armstrong, Anti-LGBT Bills, Led to More Suicides in Poland, Research Finds, Lehigh University (Feb. 9, 2024), https://www2.lehigh.edu/news/anti-lgbt-bills-led-to-more-suicides-in-poland-research-finds.

[33] Id.

[34] Id.

[35] Behrend, supra note 3.

[36] Hajdari, supra note 6.

[37] UCL, Poland: Overview, UCL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/research/research-guides/lgbtq-eastern-europe/poland (last visited Sept. 15, 2024); Schmitz, supra note 4.

[38] Behrend, supra note 3.

[39] Schmitz, supra note 4; Daniel Tilles, Bill Introducing Same-Sex Civil Partnerships in Poland Added to Government Agenda, NFP (July 9, 2024), https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/07/09/bill-introducing-same-sex-civil-partnerships-in-poland-added-to-government-agenda/.