In its most recent national election, Poland re-elected the antigay, anti-migrant and Eurosceptic "Law and Justice" populist party after almost a decade in the political wilderness. But firstly, it is necessary to recap the past of this populist party. Founded in 2001, Law and Justice initially centred on two conservative Catholic former entertainers Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Due to populist nationalist and anti-market animus to liberal European Union social reforms, Law and Justice won the 2005 Polish elections but lost power to the more moderate centre-right Civic Forum in 2007. Although Lech Kaczynski also became Polish President, he and other Law and Justice office holders died in an aircraft crash in Russia in 2010. Two factions, Poland Comes First and United Poland, have split from the party. Law and Justice supports lustration, which means purging remaining Communist era officials from government bureaucracies. It also supports a comprehensive welfare state, Euro-American NATO alliance membership, law and order increased sentence severity increases, centralisation of political power within the Polish presidency, reductions in size of the Sejm (Polish legislature), and as a conservative Catholic religious social conservative party, opposes abortion (which is illegal in Poland anyway), euthanasia and LGBT marriage equality. Law and Justice has a history of retrograde homophobia. In 2004, Poznan Law and Justice city councillors compared homosexuality to pedophilia and bestiality. While President, Jaroslaw Kaczynski opposed "promotion" of homosexuality and gay school teachers, although he said he didn't believe in antigay discrimination otherwise. However, as Warsaw Mayor, Lech Kaczynski banned a Pride march on "moral grounds", leading to a court decision that enabled the Pride march to go ahead. While Poland never criminalised male homosexuality and has antidiscrimination laws, which only protect LGBT Poles against employment discrimination. However, it lacks relationship equality, civil unions and same-sex parenting enablement legislation. There are a number of LGBT rights organisations, particularly Lambda Warsaw and the Campaign Against Homophobia and thriving LGBT communities in large Polish cities such as Warsaw and Krakow. In 2011, Poland elected its first LGBT MPs- Robert Biedron (gay) and Anna Grodszka (transgender). The Polish Sejm voted down three attempts to pass civil union legislation- in January 2013, December 2014 and May 2015. Article 18 of the Polish Constitution forbids LGBT marriage equality. However, some larger cities, such as Warsaw and Poznan, have domestic partnership ordinances, as do some municipal organisations in those cities. Moreover, there is some parliamentary support from individual members of the more moderate centre-right Civic Platform party, as well as from With Law and Justice back in power, given the homophobic rhetoric of its past leadership, the situation of LGBT Poles may deteriorate- although given its misgovernment during its last brief period of power, it may not last long in government this time, either. Recommended: Rafal Pankowski: The Radical Populist Right in Poland: The Patriots: London: Routledge: 2010. Michael Minkenberg: Transforming the Transformation? The East European Radical Right in the Political Process: London: Routledge: 2015. GayNZ.com Daily News staff - 2nd November 2015
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 2nd November 2015 - 8:40am