by MIKE URBANIAK

- It's not that gays have suddenly started to grow massively like mushrooms in the forest, that there is no such basket in which all these mushrooms could fit - explains Mike Urbaniak. We talked about the situation of LGBT + people in Poland, about ways to fight the political abuse of the community and about the cultural war that surrounds us.

Oliwia: I noticed that you often describe yourself on Facebook as a person of gay origin. It sounds like a paraphrase for a person of Jewish origin or other ethnic groups. Is it ironic to emphasize that sexual orientation has become in Poland what religious affiliation or ethnic origin used to be?

Mike Urbaniak: I use it because homosexuality and all the other letters that we have in the acronym LGBT + are just an essential part of human identity, like ethnic or national origin, not "just" sexual orientation. And besides, people like my phrase "a person of gay origin" very much and enjoy it, and humor has not hurt anyone yet.

According to the ILGA-Europe Report, we are the most homophobic country in the European Union. I have the impression that the situations related to the struggle for the civil rights of the LGBT + community and the accompanying comments confirm this diagnosis. We are unable to discuss in public without someone smoking a homophobic speech. Have we been this country forever, or have we become like that?

We have a group of people in society, about one-third, who have strongly right-wing views. Today, these people take out on LGBT + communities, earlier they took out on Jews. These people always need an enemy: "arabus", "nigger", "ciapatego", refugee.

In that sense, nothing has changed. The difference is that we are now witnessing a hate campaign organized by the state and the Catholic Church, which gave all these far-rightists permission to be verbally open and, increasingly, physical violence. All these fanatical homophobes were in Poland ten and twenty years ago, they could not only proclaim and implement their views with impunity. Today they know they can. They were given the green light and the protection of state organs.

Between this segment of society with hateful views and the process of state consent is the Internet - a space that was not there in this form 15-20 years ago. People who were not at all radical suddenly began to express themselves on matters about which they know little - they lack competence, base their opinions on common opinion. This applies not only to the LGBT + community - the same was true of Polish reactions to the mass protests that broke out after George Floyd's death in the US. Of course, this is incomparable, because although I represent a minority, I am not discriminated against ...

The difference between homophobia and racism is, as Wiktor Bagiński, an extremely talented theater director, made me realize that I, being gay, can "sit in the closet" from poverty, hide my psychosexual identity, and he - being a man with a black skin color - won't hide it.

True, I also pay attention to it. However, in the context of these topics, I have a reflection that in Poland we cannot cope with the Other. I don't mean an extreme worldview that just hates people for being different, but what's in the middle. What happened in the comments under my texts on racism, or under the cover of "Vogue" with Bianka Nwolisa, showed the terrible state of public debate. Are we able to go beyond this hatred of the Other, or is it just an escalation?

I'm rather pessimistic here. Our history is a sine wave and we have just entered a phase of chaos, violence, escalation. Whether we leave it, it remains to be seen. The problem with the internet is that it gives you a sense of anonymity and impunity. And this is a great task for the Internet world and the law in force - to make sure that commentators do not feel unpunished, that they know that they have to take responsibility for their words. Read more via Noizz