by The Cube/AP

A community in France has unanimously voted to suspend ties with a Polish town over its attitude to gay people. Councillors in Saint-Jean-de-Braye near Orleans have confirmed that they would be ending "official relations" with the town of Tuchów, in south-east Poland.

In May 2019, Tuchów was one of a number of towns or cities across Poland which declared itself an area “free of LGBT ideology”. But the municipal council of Saint-Jean-de-Braye voted to suspend their official ties after 25-years, after being made aware of the decision.

"France is committed to combating human rights violations based on sexual orientation," the council said in a statement. "We reaffirm that human rights must apply without discrimination to every human being, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. We call for the individual freedoms of all to apply without hindrance." Read more via Euronews

Saint-Jean-de-Braye suspends its twinning with an anti-LGBT + Polish city

Not an initiative of the inhabitants, defends the mayor of Tuchow

The resolution (for LGBT-free Zones) was submitted by the municipal councilors of the PiS (nationalist conservative, in power in Poland), and adopted by the municipal council. But it “is not the result of an initiative by the inhabitants,” reacted the mayor of Tuchow, on the website of the Polish city.

“We are not homophobic , our town is not closed to the world. We are open to life, to Europe and it will be so as long as I am its mayor, ” insisted Magdalena Marszalek.

“I warned the PiS advisers of the possible consequences. But no one had thought that the case could take on an international dimension, ” she added in the daily Gazeta Wyborcza (center-left) on Tuesday . “The French sent a signal saying that Tuchow is homophobic. Why should the whole commune be held responsible for a group of councilors? ” Read more via Huffington Post