Jesus, Nicolaus Copernicus and the Mermaid of Warsaw became colourful: the three bronze statues were decorated by queer activists with rainbow flags and pink anarchist scarves. With this, the collective “Stop Bzdurom” (Stop Bullsh*t), which is responsible for the colourful campaign, wants to make clear: Queer people belong to Poland! As a result, many right-wing conservative forces in the country got upset. The Prime Minister even spoke of vandalism and compared the activists with Nazis – whereupon former EU Council President Donald Tusk reminded: Jesus was always against oppressive regimes!

The situation for Poland’s queers is getting worse and worse – fortunately, the public outcry is growing equally louder. The EU agency EACEA announced this week that municipalities proclaiming themselves as “LGBT-free zones” should not receive EU funds, whereupon EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defended EU Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli and campaigned for queer rights in the EU.

“…that the rainbow in our country has become a burden that only bronze arms can carry!”

Poland’s queer scene is fighting bravely! The statues of Jesus, the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus and the mermaid of Warsaw were not chosen at random. The collective responsible explained: By choosing the figures, they wanted to emphasise that, despite the hostile atmosphere in the country, the queer community is and will remain a part of Warsaw and Poland.

“These monuments are important for the city, but we are also a part of it, that’s why they are important to us. We feel that the rainbow in our country has become a burden that only bronze arms can carry.”

Two weeks ago, a queer activist of the Stop Bzdurom collective was taken away from her apartment in Warsaw by plain-clothes policemen – according to her roommates without any announcement or explanation. Only later, after international attention, the police publicly announced: she was questioned about her involvement in an incident in which an anti-queer propaganda van was damaged by members of the collective.

In a video and posts in social media after the Rainbow Action, the activists* declared that they want to stand up against hate as long as queer people in Poland are afraid to hold hands in public! In a manifesto they called for the fight for justice:

“This is a storm! It is a rainbow. This is an attack! We have decided to act. […] It is our manifestation of being different – this rainbow. The silence of the politicians is disturbing – their words frighten us. We will not ask for mercy, respect or understanding. We are a voice too small to be heard, too small to say anything. Silenced by our parents. Tired of the daily struggle with the world. We have learned to be polite and play the game of normality. When the system wants us to jump into the darkness alone, we fight together. The Mermaid of Warsaw has a sword and a shield in her hand. She has a rainbow and a scarf. This is our call to fight. As long as we fall asleep with the thought that nothing will change anyway: That is how long we must be reminded that we exist. That we are not alone. This city is ours, too. Fight!”

Polish Prime Minister compares queer activists to Nazis

As one can imagine, Poland’s right-wing conservative Christian politicians were anything but enthusiastic about the campaign. Especially involving the statue of Jesus was a thorn in the side of many. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused the activists of having crossed a line by covering the statue of Jesus. He claimed in a Facebook post that such “acts of vandalism” would only lead to further divisions in society. And then he compared queer activists with Nazis:

“There are lines that were crossed yesterday. The defiled figure of Jesus from the suburbs of Krakow is not only a religious symbol but also a witness to the dramatic history of the capital. The very Warsaw that suffered at the hands of people who did not tolerate a world that contradicted their own vision.”

Tusk: “Jesus never stood with oppressive governments!”

The Polish politician Donald Tusk, until 2019 President of the European Council, then addressed clear words to the Polish Prime Minister and all other right-wing conservative politicians in the country, who spread queer-hostile sentiments in the name of Jesus. Tusk twittered:

“As leader of the European Christian Democrats, I would like to remind you that Jesus always took the side of the weak and damaged, he never stood with oppressive governments”.

Although he did not name Morawiecki by name and did not mention any context about the statue, many of Poland’s anti-queers interpreted Tusk’s words as a clear blow against them. They did not let that sit on them: Krzysztof Sobolewski, a member of parliament for the homophobic ruling PiS party, challenged Tusk’s claim to be a Christian. He tweeted an excerpt from an interview in which Tusk described himself as “a doubter” and not as a practising Catholic.

And Jacek Karowski, editor-in-chief of the Polish weekly Sieci, even put forward the thesis: The weakest link in society, the “frightened minority,” are families. And Jesus would therefore naturally take their side – and would thus inevitably be against the

“…unpunished, increasingly aggressive, well-paid LGBT activists who are internationally protected by the media and politics”.

So there is reason to fear: As long as Karowski and other rhetorically gifted, conservative anti-queers, bordering on hate speech, try to cunningly blame the hardening fronts and the division in the country on the victims of their anti-war campaign, the situation in Poland will hardly calm down.

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