It's about a yellow sign informing that we are just entering an "LGBT-free zone". This is a nationwide action of Bart Staszewski, a Lublin-based activist fighting for the rights of sexual minorities, who in this way stigmatizes cities that discriminate against LGBT people and their homophobic mayors. Similar plaques already hang in dozens of towns throughout Poland that have passed discriminatory resolutions, including Niebylec (Strzyżowski County) in the Podkarpacie region.
Homophobic resolution in Niebylec
The resolution "Local government free of LGBT ideology" was passed unanimously by the municipal authorities of Niebylec in September 2019. In the document, the community and activists fighting for the rights of non-heteronormative people are called "radicals striving for a cultural revolution in Poland, attacking freedom of speech, the innocence of children, the authority of family and school, and the freedom of entrepreneurs."
We read further that the councillors "will not allow themselves to be imposed on by the exaggerated problems and artificial conflicts that LGBT ideology brings with it," "will do everything to prevent the entry into schools of so-called scorners interested in the early sexualization of Polish children," and will not allow "administrative pressure to apply political correctness (sometimes rightly called simply homopropaganda) in selected professions.
The municipality wanted censorship, but the court rejected the request
This year Bart Staszewski hung a distinctive yellow sign under the Niebylec municipality's border sign that read "LGBT-free zone". When the municipal authorities found out about it, they applied for a court ban on the publication of the photograph, but the Regional Court in Rzeszów rejected the application.
The court's justification reads, among other things, that "it has not been proven that the content of the published photographs is not consistent with the actual state of affairs. The negative image effect of the municipality being deemed intolerant occurred as a consequence of the adoption of the resolution" and that "in the court's view, municipality units cannot "after the fact" be ashamed of resolutions they adopted in the past and only then weigh the overall profitability of adopting them.
If the commune loses, it is "at its own request".
The court also found unfounded the applicant's claims that as a result of the activist's actions, there was a "deterrence of tourists, investors, strategic partners and a devaluation of the municipality's reputation in the context of European Union funds. In the court's view, the above argumentation appears to be empty (...) in the court's view, even if the events described actually occurred, it is reasonable to conclude that the municipality brought about this state of affairs 'at its own request' as a result of passing an ill-considered resolution.
“This is the first such court ruling. Now, long before the other court cases, I see that the courts recognize how important and necessary my photo project is. The homophobic local government officials bet everything on one card and lost. The court clearly sees that they suffer the consequences of, to put it mildly, the ill-considered resolutions they passed, excluding part of the local community. The municipality is also trying to blame me for the possible loss of Norwegian or EU funds, which the court literally laughs at. I hope that the homophobic councillors will quickly withdraw from their exclusionary stance,” comments Bart Staszewski.
And the mayor goes on...
Asked to comment on the unfavourable court verdict for the municipality, Zbigniew Korab, the head of Niebylec explains that 'the goal of the resolution was never to discriminate against anyone, but only to express the position of the councilors, and the entire council as a municipal body, on the problem of LGBT ideology. We are aware that people are different, have different sexual preferences, and that these matters are an individual matter of each person. - reads the statement we received from the mayor.
"Nevertheless, for the sake of life, family and freedom, the local government expressed its opposition to attempts to interfere in the private sphere of life of the local community it represents, to the imposition of exaggerated problems and artificial conflicts in the mass media," the statement reads. - writes further the mayor Zbigniew Korab.
He goes on to point out that the resolution 'Samorząd wolny od ideologii LGBT' adopted by the Niebylec council was challenged by the Ombudsman Adam Bodnar to the Provincial Administrative Court in Rzeszów, which rejected the complaint arguing that it is not a resolution having the character of a local law, and therefore it is not a source of anyone's rights and duties.
Finally, the mayor adds that the Niebylec commune has never proclaimed itself an "LGBT-free zone" and no representative of the commune authorities has expressed or proclaimed such views. "On the contrary, we are full of understanding for diversity, including sexual diversity. Rather, it was others - in this case probably Mr. Bart Staszewski, as evidenced by the TV news - who put a sign with the words 'LGBT-free zone' on an information board with the name of the village, photographed it and published the photo, creating the impression that these are the actions of the municipality of Niebylec, thus exposing the municipality to loss of image and good name." Read more via onet Rzeszow