EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke out strongly against discrimination against LGBTIQ*s in Poland in her first State of the Union address on 16th September.

“So I want to be crystal clear – LGBTQI-free zones are humanity-free zones. And they have no place in our Union”, said Ursula von der Leyen yesterday in her first State of the Union address.

In her first speech on the state of the Union yesterday, Ursula von der Leyen said she had no mercy for “a Union where you can be who you are and love who you want without fear of blame or discrimination”.

“Because being yourself is not your ideology. It’s your identity. And no one can ever take it away.”

Von der Leyen announced that the Commission would shortly be presenting a strategy for developing LGBTIQ* rights and mutual recognition of family relationships in the EU. An EU-wide action plan against racism and hate speech was also planned.

“It is up to us what we make of our future. It is up to us which Europe we want. Let us not talk Europe down. Let us rather work on it. Let us make Europe strong. For a world we want to live in.”

Solidarity with the Polish opposition

The day before, 32 members of the LGBTI Intergroup in the European Parliament organised a solidarity action in front of the European Parliament. The MEPs dressed in the different colours of the rainbow, thus emulating the opposition’s protest during President Andrzej Duda’s inaugural speech on 6 August.

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