Warsaw mayor pledges support to Poland’s LGBT community

Warsaw, Poland – Earlier this week, Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski signed a landmark declaration of support for the LGBT community.

The declaration, signed on Monday by the mayor of Poland’s capital city according to local media, outlines a series of measures, including opening anti-discrimination classes in all the schools in Warsaw, establishing an LGBT Community Centre and launching a crisis-intervention and shelter system for those in need of psychological and/or legal support. The document focuses on five pillars to make Polish society more inclusive and safer for the LGBT community: safety, education, culture and sports, workplace and administration.

The mayor announced that the Warsaw municipal hall will later release the exact schedule of the actions and measures included in the LGBT+ Declaration.

The document was drafted and promoted by a number of Polish organisations, NGO’s and LGBT rights activists, including Stowarzyszenie Miłość Nie Wyklucza, Lambda Warszawa, Fundacja Trans-Fuzja, Kampania Przeciw Homofobii and Fundacja Wolontariat Rownosci.

Talks about the content of the declaration began weeks before the local elections of last October, when Rafal Trzaskowski was elected by a landslide, beating his opponent from the ruling Law and Justice party Patryk Jaki in the first round of the election, with more than 56% of the ballots.

Organisations behind the LGBT+ declaration have described Rafal Trzaskowski’s support as an “unprecedented milestone” in the protection of LGBT rights in Poland.

According to a Pew Research Centre study (see map below), 50% of young adults in Poland oppose allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, one of the lowest rates in Central and Eastern Europe, although far more than neighboring Czech Republic, the most liberal country on the issue of LGBT rights in the former eastern bloc.

Earlier this month, Poland’s first openly gay politician and former mayor of Slupsk Robert Biedron launched a new progressive, pro-EU political party Wiosna (Spring), which quickly positioned itself at a strong third place in polls and voting intentions, behind the governing Law and Justice and the main opposition party Civic Platform.