Support for declarations Bożena Bieryło, a
PiS councilwoman in
Białystok County, said the legislation in Białystok county was required due to LGBTQ "provocations" and "demands" for sex education instruction. In July 2019, Warsaw city Councillor Marek Szolc and the (PTPA) released a legal opinion stating that LGBT-free zone declarations stigmatize and exclude people, reminding everyone of article 32 of the
Constitution of Poland which guarantees equality and lack of discrimination. In August 2019, multiple LGBTQ community members stated that they feel unsafe in Poland. , German-occupied Poland, 1939. Nazi banner proclaiming city is
judenfrei (free of Jews). This image was tweeted by a representative of
Robert Biedroń's party in response to the LGBT-free zones. Campaign Against Homophobia director Slava Melnyk compared the declarations to "1933, when there were also free zones from a specific group of people." Warsaw's
deputy president Paweł Rabiej tweeted, "The German fascists created zones free of Jews. Apartheid, of blacks." In March 2020,
BBC Radio 4 broadcast a documentary on the opposition of the LGBTQ community in Poland against the introduction of LGBT-free zones in the country. In April 2020, during the
COVID-19 pandemic, many within the LGBTQ community began handing out rainbow facemasks and other P.P.E. as a direct protest of the "LGBT-free zoning" within certain local government areas of Poland. On 17 August 2020, an open letter to the
European Commission president
Ursula von der Leyen, was published urging the European Union "to take immediate steps in defense of basic European values ... which have been violated in Poland" and expressing "a deep concern over the future of democracy in Poland". It also appealed to the Polish government to stop targeting sexual minorities as enemies and to withdraw support from organizations promoting homophobia. The signatories of the letter included among others:
Pedro Almodóvar,
Timothy Garton Ash,
Margaret Atwood,
John Banville,
Judith Butler,
J. M. Coetzee,
Stephen Daldry,
Luca Guadagnino,
Ed Harris,
Agnieszka Holland,
Isabelle Huppert,
Jan Komasa,
Yorgos Lanthimos,
Mike Leigh,
Paweł Pawlikowski,
Volker Schlöndorff,
Stellan Skarsgård,
Timothy Snyder,
Olga Tokarczuk,
Adam Zagajewski, and
Slavoj Žižek. In September 2020, the American presidential candidate
Joe Biden also condemned LGBT-free zones in Poland via
Twitter stating that "LGBTQ+ rights are human rights — and 'LGBT-free zones' have no place in the European Union or anywhere in the world". The Polish embassy in Washington, D.C. replied that Biden's Tweet had been "based on inaccurate media information, as no 'LGBT-free zones' exist in Poland." The
Atlas of Hate organization, which keeps track of the anti-LGBTQ resolutions, was nominated for the
Sakharov Prize by 43 MEPs. In 2023, the watchdog group
ILGA-Europe identified Poland's respect for LGBTI rights as the worst of all 27 EU countries.
Reaction from the European Union On 18 December 2019, the
European Parliament voted (463 to 107) in favour of condemning the more than 80 LGBT-free zones in Poland. Parliament demanded that "Polish authorities (are) to condemn these acts and (are) to revoke all resolutions attacking LGBT rights". According to the EU Parliament, the zones are part of "a broader context of attacks against the LGBT community in Poland, which include growing hate speech by public and elected officials and public media, as well as attacks and bans on
Pride marches and actions such as 'Rainbow Fridays'.". The letter can be seen as an extension of the 2019 vote in the European Parliament condemning the zones, as it notes that failure by Poland to adhere to common values of the European Union of "respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities", as stated in Article 2 of the 2012 European Union Treaty could result in the loss of EU funds granted to the Republic of Poland in the future, such as European Structural and Investment. In her September 2020
State of the European Union speech,
Ursula von der Leyen stated, "LGBTQI-free zones are humanity-free zones. And they have no place in our Union." In March 2021, on the initiative of the French MEP Pierre Karleskind, the European Parliament declared the entire European Union an "LGBTIQ Freedom Zone" in response to the
democratic backsliding including of LGBTIQ rights in some EU countries, notably in Poland and Hungary. In September 2021, the European Commission sent letters to several Polish regional councils indicating that EU funds would be withdrawn if they do not abandon their LGBT-free zone policy. The European Commission blocked €150 million funds for LGBTQ-free zones, and also blocked a 42 billion Euro payment from the COVID-19 recovery fund, due to Poland not obeying EU law. In January 2023, the Polish town of
Świdnik abolished their LGBT-free zone in response to fearing that they would stop receiving EU subsidies. In February 2023, the European Commission ended its legal action against the LGBT-free zones. In May 2023, the European Commission said that the LGBT-free zones would stop receiving EU funding if they continue their policies.
International agreements In February 2020, the French commune of
Saint-Jean-de-Braye decided to suspend the partnership with the Polish city of
Tuchów as a result of the controversial anti-LGBTQ resolution passed by the Tuchów authorities. In February 2020, the French commune of
Nogent-sur-Oise suspended its partnership with the Polish city of Kraśnik as a reaction to the passing of an anti-LGBTQ resolution by the city authorities. In February 2020, the French region of
Centre-Val de Loire suspended its partnership with the Lesser Poland Voivodeship as a response to the establishment of an "LGBT-free zone" resolution by the voivodeship's authorities. In May 2020, the German city of
Schwerte ended its city partnership with the Polish city of
Nowy Sącz after 30 years of cooperation due to the town's adoption of a resolution discriminating against LGBTQ people. In July 2020, the
Dutch city of
Nieuwegein as well as the French city of
Douai ended their
twin city agreements with the Polish city of
Puławy due to a "gay free zone" proclamation made in the latter. On 12 October 2020, the Irish city of
Fermoy ended its twin town agreement with
Nowa Dęba after 14 years of cooperation as a reaction to the homophobic LGBT-free zone declaration adopted by the Polish city's authorities. On 13 November 2020, the Belgian municipality of
Puurs-Sint-Amands suspended its 20-year-long partnership with the Polish town of
Dębica because of the town's adoption of the Charter of The Rights of The Family, which discriminates LGBTQ people. In July 2020, the European Commissioner for Justice and Equality
Helena Dalli announced that six Polish cities which adopted the "LGBT-free zones" would not be granted EU funds related to financing projects within the EU
twinning project framework as a direct consequence of their discriminatory policies directed against members of the LGBTQ community. The decision met with criticism from the
Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro, however, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen defended the decision adding that "Our treaties ensure that every person in Europe is free to be who they are, live where they like, love who they want, and aim as high as they want." However, on 18 August, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro announced that the town of Tuchów in southern Poland would now receive 250,000 zlotys ($67,800) from the ministry's Justice Fund, to compensate for the EU funding reversal. In September 2020,
Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced that the Polish municipalities which introduced the LGBT-free zones would be denied the
EEA and Norway Grants whose aim is the reduction of social and economic disparities in the
European Economic Area (EEA). Poland is the biggest beneficiary of these funds and could potentially lose millions of euros of financial aid. The suspension of funds only applies to the government bodies that have themselves adopted resolutions and does not apply to non-governmental organizations that operate in the LGBT-free zones. In September 2020, a group of
MEPs published a letter addressed to the
European Olympic Committees (EOC) in which they demanded to respect the rights of LGBTI athletes and expressed an idea to host the
2023 European Games, which had been scheduled to take place in Kraków, in a different location due to the region's LGBT-free zone status.
Repeal and cancellation of anti-LGBT declarations In September 2021, three Polish regions repealed their own anti-LGBTQ declarations in response to the threat of a funding freeze from the EU, due to its anti-discrimination laws. In June 2022, following appeal from four voivodeship administrative courts, which issued the decisions numbered 4028/21, 4240/21, 3746/21, and 4041/21, and annulled resolutions relating to LGBT-free zones in 2020, the
Supreme Administrative Court of Poland dismissed the appeals, agreeing with the voivodeship court's decision to remove the zones. == See also ==