Foto: Przemyslaw Stefaniak (media are free to use)
Recently Poland has witnessed an unprecedented wave of institutionalized homophobia. A sizeable number of local governments have declared their regions LGBT-free zones by means of passing legal acts (see below for example of such act) which serve to stigmatize and exclude members of the LGBT community. As of August 2019, Poland has seen around 30 copy-paste-like LGBT-free zone declarations passed, including four voivodeships in the south-east of the country: Lesser Poland, Podkarpackie, Świetokrzyskie, and Lublin. As of now the LGBT-free zone landscape has risen to around 90 regions.
My photographic project is an attempt at showing real-life effects of these symbolic legal acts.
Although Zones are real, the road sign is prepared by my to put a human face to cruel homophobic legislation. The LGBT-free zone project is meant to be read as a visualisation of the new law introduced in Poland and to raise awareness about the violation of LGBT rights in those areas both locally and internationally.
Declarations made by municipalities are acts of opposition to equality, respect, and tolerance. City or province councils pass them under the guise of defending Christian values, schools, and the traditional family model against the influence of the so-called LGBT ideology and LGBT officers. Our project is meant to dispel this false myth: there is no LGBT ideology and no LGBT officers. I want to show the human face behind this inhumane right-wing newspeak, spread awareness within and beyond the LGBT community, and invite everyone to a fact-driven national discussion of LGBT rights understood as inherently human rights.
In my project, at I will go to 37 municipalities and towns throughout Poland, with a view to documenting LGBT people that come from there. This is an important moment in the history of the struggle for equality - it must be documented.Although Zones are real, the road sign is prepared by my to put a human face to cruel homophobic legislation. The LGBT-free zone project is meant to be read as a visualisation of the new law introduced in Poland and to raise awareness about the violation of LGBT rights in those areas both locally and internationally.
Declarations made by municipalities are acts of opposition to equality, respect, and tolerance. City or province councils pass them under the guise of defending Christian values, schools, and the traditional family model against the influence of the so-called LGBT ideology and LGBT officers. Our project is meant to dispel this false myth: there is no LGBT ideology and no LGBT officers. I want to show the human face behind this inhumane right-wing newspeak, spread awareness within and beyond the LGBT community, and invite everyone to a fact-driven national discussion of LGBT rights understood as inherently human rights.
In December 2019, the EU Parliament, in it's resolution against Poland, strongly condemned ‘‘LGBTI-free zones’’ in Poland and clearly stated that Poland should revoke resolutions attacking LGBTI rights. More on this here.
The right-wing polticians and NGOs want to sue me. Read the "NEWS" section
How do such LGBT-free declarations look like?
The declaration of the City Regional Assembly regarding
the introduction of the LGBT ideology to local government communities
The declaration of the City Regional Assembly regarding the introduction of the LGBT ideology to local government communities.
The City Regional Assembly express their opposition against the actions intended to promote the ideology of LGBT movements that have been occurring in the public sphere. The aims of this ideology violate the basic rights and liberties guaranteed in acts of international law, contest the values protected by the Polish Constitution, as well as interfere in the autonomy of religious communities.
Recent actions undertaken by representatives of the national as well as local political scene are aimed at causing fundamental changes in social life. These actions are intended to annihilate the values shaped by the Catholic Church, such as: pursuit of the truth, concern for moral development of the young generation, concern over the institution of family and a school based on Christian principles.
Therefore, having a person’s and a family’s best interest in mind, we declare that:
- We shall defend our schools and our families against the spread of ideology which stands in opposition to Christian values;
- We shall not allow to introduce the elements of sexual education based on WHO standards into the Polish system of education;
- We shall not allow for officers of political correctness (the so-called ‘lighthouse keepers) to be installed in schools as it stands in conflict with the law and the good of our children;
- We shall not allow exerting administrative pressure to comply with political correctness (rightly referred to as homopropaganda) in selected professions (teachers, scientists, businessmen, lawyers).
- We declare that the Lublin Regional Assembly, in realising their public duties, shall always be faithful to the national and state tradition, remembering the millennial tradition of Christianity in Poland and the centuries-old commitment of Polish people to freedom.
- We shall not allow to introduce the elements of sexual education based on WHO standards into the Polish system of education;
- We shall not allow for officers of political correctness (the so-called ‘lighthouse keepers) to be installed in schools as it stands in conflict with the law and the good of our children;
- We shall not allow exerting administrative pressure to comply with political correctness (rightly referred to as homopropaganda) in selected professions (teachers, scientists, businessmen, lawyers).
- We declare that the Lublin Regional Assembly, in realising their public duties, shall always be faithful to the national and state tradition, remembering the millennial tradition of Christianity in Poland and the centuries-old commitment of Polish people to freedom.
You can find each zone on site "Atlas of Hate"
"Atlas of hate" is an interactive map of Poland made by Jakub Gawron, Pawel Preneta and Paulina Pajak. On this map, regions in which works on adopting the "anti-LGBT declaration" have been rejected, accepted or are still underway have been pinned,
Red color - accepted
Green - rejected
Yellow - extremist lobbying activities
Red color - accepted
Green - rejected
Yellow - extremist lobbying activities
When choosing region you can download resolution from the region.
You can read about project in media:
Activist Aims to Shame Polish Towns Opposed to LGBT Community by New York Times
Activist Aims to Shame Polish Towns Opposed to LGBT Community by New York Times
These photos highlight the human hurt over Poland's 'LGBT-free zones' by euronews
"LGBT free zones" in the Lublin region. These signs are shocking but legal by streetwise
Activist fights homophobia in Poland with photo series of 'LGBT-free' zones by cbc.ca
This activist depicts the victims of Poland’s ‘LGBT-free zones’ through photography project by out.tv
Activist signposts Polish towns as “LGBT-free zones” in protest against anti-LGBT resolutions by notesfrompoland.com
Hård kritik från EU mot hbtq-fria zoner i Polen by etc.se
Manifest över ett nytt Europa by Alice Bah Kuhnke, swedish MEP
Les zones "sans idéologie LGBT" en Pologne s'étendent de manière inquiétante by huffingtonpost.fr
Seksuaalivähemmistöt nostettiin Puolassa tikun nokkaan – kaupungit julistautuvat "seksuaalivähemmistöjen ideologiasta" vapaiksi ja valtapuolueen ohjaama media hyökkää vähemmistöjä vastaan by mtvuutiset.fi
Kreativer Protest gegen "LGBT-freie Zonen" by web.de
Polen: Wirbel um Fotoprojekt gegen "LGBT-freie Zonen" by queer.de
Diese queeren Menschen leben in Polen in sogenannten LGBTQIA-freien Zonen by ze.tt
In posa davanti ai comuni 'liberi dai gay': in Polonia la comunità Lgbt chiede aiuto all'Ue by globalist
Fotografiando las ‘zonas libres de LGTB’ en Polonia by elsaltodiario.com
Bart Staszewski, le photographe activiste qui montre les villages polonais se déclarant "zone sans LGBT" by rtbf.be
Escàndol a Polònia: el govern d'ultradreta declara zones lliures d'LGTBI by el nacional
50 περιοχές της Πολωνίας δηλώνουν «LGBT-free» κι ένας φωτογράφος τις ξεμπροστιάζει φανταστικά by mikropragmata
Οι «Ζώνες χωρίς ΛΟΑΤ» είναι μία από τις χειρότερες στιγμές της Ευρώπης
„V Polsku je přes 90 LGBT-free zón. Vyhlašují je samosprávy. Mluví o duhovém moru,” říká polský aktivista by hatefree.cz
Polské obce nenávistnými „LGBT free zónami“ zraňují skutečné lidi, ukazuje aktivista by alarm a2larm.cz
Tretjina Poljakov živi na "območjih brez ideologije LGBT" by rtvslo.si
"LGBT free zones" in the Lublin region. These signs are shocking but legal by streetwise
Activist fights homophobia in Poland with photo series of 'LGBT-free' zones by cbc.ca
This activist depicts the victims of Poland’s ‘LGBT-free zones’ through photography project by out.tv
Activist signposts Polish towns as “LGBT-free zones” in protest against anti-LGBT resolutions by notesfrompoland.com
Hård kritik från EU mot hbtq-fria zoner i Polen by etc.se
Manifest över ett nytt Europa by Alice Bah Kuhnke, swedish MEP
Les zones "sans idéologie LGBT" en Pologne s'étendent de manière inquiétante by huffingtonpost.fr
Seksuaalivähemmistöt nostettiin Puolassa tikun nokkaan – kaupungit julistautuvat "seksuaalivähemmistöjen ideologiasta" vapaiksi ja valtapuolueen ohjaama media hyökkää vähemmistöjä vastaan by mtvuutiset.fi
Kreativer Protest gegen "LGBT-freie Zonen" by web.de
Polen: Wirbel um Fotoprojekt gegen "LGBT-freie Zonen" by queer.de
Diese queeren Menschen leben in Polen in sogenannten LGBTQIA-freien Zonen by ze.tt
In posa davanti ai comuni 'liberi dai gay': in Polonia la comunità Lgbt chiede aiuto all'Ue by globalist
Fotografiando las ‘zonas libres de LGTB’ en Polonia by elsaltodiario.com
Bart Staszewski, le photographe activiste qui montre les villages polonais se déclarant "zone sans LGBT" by rtbf.be
Escàndol a Polònia: el govern d'ultradreta declara zones lliures d'LGTBI by el nacional
50 περιοχές της Πολωνίας δηλώνουν «LGBT-free» κι ένας φωτογράφος τις ξεμπροστιάζει φανταστικά by mikropragmata
Οι «Ζώνες χωρίς ΛΟΑΤ» είναι μία από τις χειρότερες στιγμές της Ευρώπης
„V Polsku je přes 90 LGBT-free zón. Vyhlašují je samosprávy. Mluví o duhovém moru,” říká polský aktivista by hatefree.cz
Polské obce nenávistnými „LGBT free zónami“ zraňují skutečné lidi, ukazuje aktivista by alarm a2larm.cz
Tretjina Poljakov živi na "območjih brez ideologije LGBT" by rtvslo.si