Colorful protest: With clothes and face masks in rainbow colours, the opposition yesterday, at the swearing-in of newly elected President Andrzej Duda, sent a clear signal against his queer politics – which, together with the tough election campaign, divided the country more deeply than ever.

On 12th July, Andrzej Duda (48) was re-elected as Poland’s president – with a narrow majority of 51% he defeated his rival Rafal Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw, in the run-off election. The election was preceded by a dirty election campaign in which the Catholic Church and the media got involved, leaving the country deeply divided. Duda’s favourite election topic: His war against the queer community.

When the president was sworn in on Thursday, it became clear how divided the parliament that is to govern Poland in the coming years truly is. Politicians of the strongest opposition party Civic Platform (PO) were missing, many chairs were empty. The party had previously appealed against the election results, saying that Duda had been supported by the “entire state apparatus”, including the public and anti-corruption TV station TVP – and that Duda had also drawn on state resources during the election campaign. Four days ago, the Polish Supreme Court rejected the appeal and declared the election valid.

But not all of them were notably absent yesterday in the Sejm, the lower house of parliament: The politicians* of the left-wing party Lewica sent a courageous and strong signal, both on national and international level. Together they represented all colours of the rainbow and wore matching face masks. With this they showed: There are people in Poland who stand up for all Polish citizens – and that the queer community is a part of the country and should remain so.

“Words are not necessary”, the party comments on this picture on Facebook.

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