Warzaw will host EuroPride in 2010 - a celebration that does not risk being overly exploited by media, as worried activists sometime feel about Stockholm Pride. In Poland it is not uncommon that leading politics describe homosexuality as being perverse, and there are only a handful of public persons who are openly homosexual.
The photographer Sylwia Strebska, who shows her photos at Stockholm Pride in her ehibition 'Invisible', hosted a panel discussion about the situation for LGBT people in Poland. The other members of the panel were all activists who work with next year's EuroPride.
- Poland is a country with 38 million inhabitants, but still there are only three or four LGBT organisations, with a total of around 500 members, Sylwia Strebska says. It is also a country that during its modern history has been occupied by two totalitarian regimes.
Long tradition of making LGBT people invisible
Still Poland decriminalized homosexuality quite early. This was a consequence of the Soviet regime. The communists simply did not recognize the existence of homosexuality. When the Communist regime was deposed, the influence of the Catholic church increased, and just as in Poland's eastern neighbours and in Russia, the church has a vast influence over the attitudes of the general public towards homosexuality and homosexuals.
The first proper Pride celebration in Warzaw has held in 2001, even though there had been earlier festivities with similar themes. Three masked persons were the only ones who dared to come to the parade. In 2005, the Pride festivities were banned entirely by the city's former mayor, Lech Kaczyński, who is the current President of Poland. The case was tried by the European Court of Human Rights. The court ruled that public meetings must be allowed and protected by the police. After this, no bans of Pride festivities have been issued in Poland.
Visibility in the general public must increase
In order to become accepted by teh general public and to fight homofobia in Poland, campaigns have been arranged, that have portrayed "normal" homosexuals. A campaign that received a fair amount of attention was called 'Let Them See Us' or 'Niech nas zobaca', with images of same-sex couples who look ordinary and happy. Yet this raised a major depabe on whether it was appropriate to spend tax funds on "homo propaganda" or not.
One reason why there are so few who are open about their sexual orientation and form interest groups is the fear of economic reprisals and that it will affect one's career in a negative way. The ones who actually do come out are economically independent.
More people must feel that they dare to come out in order to get more people engaged in the LGBT movement. To achieve this, the society as a whole must improve, and the economic situation must improve on an individual level, Sylwia Strebska thinks.
Needs Europe's help
When asked what can be done to support the EuroPride celebration next year, the answer is unanimous:
- Go there!
- It is symbolically very important that EuroPride will be hosted by an Eastern European city. It is therefore an important possibility for us to make ourselves seen in the general public, as well as show that we are a part of the society.