Polish Anti-Gay
School Bill Condemned
By International
Human Rights Group
by 365Gay.com from
the Web, March 20, 2007
New York City, Mar. 19 -- The
Polish government's proposed legislation to censor all discussion of
homosexuality in schools and other academic institutions would violate freedom
of speech and impede free access to information, Human Rights Watch said Monday
in an open letter to Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Last week, the deputy minister of education, Miroslaw Orzechowski, said that the
government is developing legislation to "punish anyone who promotes
homosexuality" in schools and education establishments. Teachers,
principals and students who violate the law could face dismissal, fines or
prison terms.
HIV/AIDS educators who address safer sex for LGBT people would be banned from
schools, as would all LGBT organizations. Orzechowski also announced that
"teachers who reveal their homosexuality will be fired from work."
The legislation could pass parliament by the end of the month.
"Polish authorities claim to be protecting families, but in fact they are trying
to deny children free speech and lifesaving information on HIV/AIDS," said Scott
Long, director of Human Rights Watch's LGBT Rights Program.
"Schools should be training grounds for tolerance, not bastions of repression
and discrimination."
At a summit of European Union education ministers earlier this month, Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister of Education Roman Giertych claimed that children
are receiving "propaganda about homosexuality," adding that this "must be
limited so children will have the correct view of the family."
The proposed legislation has the support of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
The prime minister said, "Promoting a homosexual lifestyle to young people in
school as an alternative to normal life goes too far. These kinds of
initiatives in schools have to be stopped."
President Lech Kaczynski, who is the prime minister's twin brother, has made it
clear that he sees homosexuality as a threat. On February 20, during a
visit to Ireland, he stated, "If that kind of approach to sexual life were to be
promoted on a grand scale, the human race would disappear."
The proposed homophobic legislation follows a series of recent threats and
abuses against lesbian and gay Poles by state officials. In June, the
State Prosecutor's office issued a letter to prosecutors in the municipalities
of Legnica, Wroclaw, Walbryzch, Opole and Jelenia Gora ordering in sweeping
terms investigations into the conduct of "homosexuals" on unspecified
allegations of "pedophilia."
In 2004 and 2005, when he was mayor of Warsaw, President Kaczynski banned Gay
Pride marches, though the parades were allowed to proceed after administrative
courts held the ban unconstitutional. Authorities also banned the LGBT
Equality Parade in Warsaw scheduled to take place on June 10, 2006.
Wojciech Wierzejski, a member of parliament from the League of Polish Families (Liga
Polskich Rodzin, or LPR) said last May, "If deviants start to demonstrate, they
should be bashed with a baton."
This most recent attack on lesbian and gay rights comes at a time when
homophobic policies and anti-Semitic rhetoric by Polish officials have come
under increasing international scrutiny. On March 15, the president of the
European Parliament reprimanded a Polish member, Maciej Giertych, for publishing
an anti-Semitic pamphlet, marking the first time a member of the European
Parliament was sanctioned for violations of the EU body's principles of mutual
respect.
Human Rights Watch urged Prime Minister Kaczynski to halt the progress of the
proposed legislation, prevent academic censorship, protect LGBT people's rights
in schools, disassociate his administration from rhetoric that promotes
discrimination and spreads hatred, and promote equality regardless of sexual
orientation or gender identity.
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