In a new attack on the Polish LGBT+ community, Poland's parliament has debated anti-LGBT+ legislation similar to Russia's "gay propaganda" law. The bill has now been sent to a commission – sign to help make sure it never sees the light of day again.
The proposed bill, dubbed "Stop LGBT," aims to prohibit the "promotion" of same-sex relationships and would ban pride parades.
It was introduced as a citizen's legislative initiative, which can be submitted to parliament if it receives signatures from at least 100,000 citizens. Activists have confirmed that over 400 Catholic churches across Poland helped collect signatures among their members. The organization behind the bill is the conservative "Life and Family Foundation", which recently lobbied successfully for a restriction on abortion rights.
The presentation of the bill in parliament turned into a vicious hate speech, when Krzysztof Kasprzak, one of the initiators, compared the LGBT+ community to Nazis, and accused it of seeking "to overthrow the natural order and introduce terror."
It's this kind of hateful rhetoric that homophobes in Poland use to target the LGBT+ community and to justify the infamous "LGBT-free zones".
But there's hope. The bill has been sent to the interior affairs commission for further consideration. This commission is led by Wiesław Szczepański, a member of Lewica (The Left), a progressive, centre-left political alliance that opposes the attacks on LGBT+ people.
Sign this petition and ask Mr. Szczepański to make sure the bill never sees the light of day again.
