Irish lawmakers and rights groups criticised Polish President Lech Kaczynski on Wednesday after he said during a state visit that "the human race would disappear" if homosexuality were freely promoted. "The distempered, ignorant, unsophisticated attitudes on behalf of the leader of Poland are a disgrace," Senator David Norris, who has been an independent member of the upper house of the Irish parliament for 20 years, wrote in one newspaper. Norris, who was instrumental in securing the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland in 1993, described the Polish president as "a disgrace to the European community". Kaczynski, who as mayor of Warsaw banned gay pride marches in the city for two years, told a conference in Dublin on Tuesday he was not a homophobe and that some of his "personal friends" were gay, The Irish Times reported. But responding to questions from Irish lawmakers, the Polish president also said he opposed homosexuality being "freely promoted" or "treated as one of several choices." The Polish embassy declined to comment on his views, which were front-page news and a hot debate topic on Irish radio. "His views on homosexuality will not cause surprise in Poland," the Irish Independent commented. "But there are many who wish he had confined his comments to usual platitudes." Kaczynski's remarks also coincided with a parliamentary debate on proposed legislation that would give legal recognition to same-sex partnerships. Labour Party finance spokeswoman Joan Burton said the comments were "a pity" given people's efforts to "eliminate gross and crass discrimination". Visitors to http://www.gaire.com/, which describes itself as "a gay community website with a sense of humour", were encouraged to email protests to the Polish ambassador. "The headcase of state of one of Europe's largest countries clearly believes that the power of gays is of awesome proportions," wrote one user on a discussion thread entitled "Gays Threaten Planet Earth". Some visitors to the Web site did express understanding for Poland's current social and political climate, given that Ireland's Roman Catholics rank alongside those of Poland as some of Europe's most observant. "Poland is basically undergoing severe economic hardships combined with a strongly resurgent Catholic Church," wrote a contributor named JupiterKid. "Ireland was somewhat in Poland's position 25 years ago. . . The EU needs to be applying pressure to Poland." Ref: Reuters (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 22nd February 2007 - 12:00pm