Thousands attend gay rights march in Poland

Activists fighting for homosexual rights in Poland were joined by thousands of supporters Saturday, June 11 throughout the streets of Warsaw in a predominantly Catholic country where gay rights are among the least recognized.

Dotting the streets with rainbow-colored flags and umbrellas, the colorful Equality parade campaigning for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) rights started at the Palace of Culture and ended across the Vistula River for a so-called beach party. The event was led by the civic organization Committee for the Defence of Democracy (Polish: Komitet Obrony Demokracji or KOD) and the left-wing Razem party. Supporters included women's activists, Germany-based LGBTI activists, and some foreign diplomats, as reported by The Guardian.

At the same time, a letter was also published in a local newspaper, signed by 100 well-known Poles, including the "out" Slupsk mayor, Robert Biedroń, and an "out" ex-Vatican official subsequently defrocked for being homosexual, Krzysztof Charamsa.

The letter and the LGBTI march called on the Polish people to recognize and end the hostilities against homosexuals as well as to encourage other LBGTI to come out.

While Poland ranks as among countries that offer the least protection for gay rights in the European Union, activists claim that hate crime and discrimination worsened since the right-wing Law and Justice Government that took office almost a year ago.

"We are fed up with waiting for change. This government is hostile but it wasn't much better under the previous (liberal) one," activist Hubert Sobecki told The Guardian. Sobecki's group, Nie Wyklucza translated as "Love does not exclude," is campaigning for same-sex marriage.

Sobecki added, "Now we have simply decided to end the softly-softly approach and call for full marriage rights. We are not even talking to the politicians. We are addressing ordinary people. We want them to get used to it."

Gay rights parades in Croatia and Italy, two other predominantly Catholic countries in the EU, also took place on Saturday. Just like Poland, activists in Croatia are fighting off a conservative new government that could pose challenges to minority rights. Activists in Italy, on the other hand, have just won the right for same-sex civil unions but claim that gay rights are still far from being completely recognized.