As Europe applauds Polish election results, civil rights groups prepare for fight: NPR

Hubert Sobiecki is the spokesperson for Love Does Not Exclude, an association representing the LGBTQ+ community in Poland. Sobiecki says that although he is encouraged by Polish voters’ rejection of the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party, he is not convinced that the Civic coalition led by Donald Tusk represents a major change for Poland’s LGBTQ+ community.

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Hubert Sobiecki is the spokesperson for Love Does Not Exclude, an association representing the LGBTQ+ community in Poland. Sobiecki says that although he is encouraged by Polish voters’ rejection of the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party, he is not convinced that the Civic coalition led by Donald Tusk represents a major change for Poland’s LGBTQ+ community.

Rob Schmitz/NPR

WARSAW, Poland — As Poland’s election results began trickling in on Sunday, Hubert Sobiecki watched in disbelief as it began to occur to him that the right-wing Law and Justice party would not rule the country much longer.

“It’s like living in a toxic home with a violent partner, and suddenly you’re free from it,” says Sobiecki, spokesman for Love Does Not Exclusion, an association representing Poland’s LGBTQ+ community. “How can you learn to live again?”

During its eight years in power, the Law and Justice Party, known by its Polish acronym PiS, created what it called “LGBT-free zones” across the country. She has called homosexuals “animals,” “emissaries of Satan,” and worse.

A few years ago, when retail giant Ikea fired a Polish employee because he made anti-gay remarks on the company’s internal website, Poland’s Law and Justice party-led government filed a lawsuit on behalf of the employee.

Now that a more progressive government is on its way to power, Sobecki isn’t sure how to feel.

“I’ve seen a lot of governments come and go and different parties, and they’ve all openly and arrogantly and shamelessly ignored LGBT people in this country,” he says. “So, again, I try to dare to hope rather than hope from day one.”

Sobiecki says the majority of the opposition that won the Polish elections are old-guard politicians like former Prime Minister Donald Tusk, with whom his organization actually tried to negotiate equal rights when he was in power.

“And he was not a good partner to discuss it with,” Sobecki recalls. “He always treated us as a problem and not as a social group he could meet. He never met us in person. Ever.”

Tusk’s civic coalition promised during its election campaign to introduce a bill to legalize civil marriage, but Sobiecki says it is not clear what legal rights his community will be granted, if any.

“Don’t confuse happiness with the cessation of pain,” he says. “Just because we can count on public television stopping calling us ‘pedophiles’ — maybe that’s not the highest standard we should be aiming for?”

Polish abortion rights advocate Natalia Broniarchek says the government change may not achieve what many of her fellow advocates are looking for when it comes to women’s right to abortion in Poland.

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Polish abortion rights advocate Natalia Broniarchek says the government change may not achieve what many of her fellow advocates are looking for when it comes to women’s right to abortion in Poland.

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Abortion rights advocates also doubt that the new government will embrace their goals

A few blocks from the Polish capital, Natalia Broniarczyk was unpacking from a flight to Strasbourg, France, where she had accepted a European Union award for her work on abortion rights, when she heard news of the election.

“You can see I’m very cheerful, but I’m also realistic,” she says. “So I know we still have a lot of work to do.”

Three years ago, the Polish government imposed additional restrictions on abortion to include cases of malformed fetuses.

“We were breaking the law several times to save someone’s life,” Broniarchik says. “We were sending pills to hospitals, which is illegal. We were calling the hospitals and threatening the doctors that we would send them on TV if they didn’t do anything.”

Last weekend, Broniarchek said police showed up at her parents’ home outside Warsaw looking for her. A new Liberal government will likely mean these visits will stop, but Broniarchik is not optimistic.

“I think they are not brave enough to be in favor of legal abortion on demand,” she says of who will likely form the new government. “Frankly, I have no hope for Donald Tusk because he has promised many times to bring about legal abortion.”

That was when Tusk was prime minister years ago, and she says he didn’t keep his promises. Tusk is promising to introduce a bill that would legalize abortion in pregnancies up to 12 weeks, but Broniarchik is not holding her breath.

She says the wait begins now for Tusk and his next government to be courageous and go beyond their promises.

Piotr Zakowiecki contributed to this report from Warsaw.