Tag: Poland

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News Round-Up: June 30, 2021

The House of Representatives voted to create a select committee to investigate the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol building

The House of Representatives voted to create a select committee to investigate the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol building Some news items you might have missed: • CNN: Only 2 GOP members of the House – Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois – voted in favor of a select committee to investigate the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol building where 5 Americans died and over 100 police officers were injured. Republicans said the investigation would just be a means to attack Donald Trump. But before the 2016 election, Republicans held 6 investigations into the 2012 Benghazi attack which left 4 Americans died. • Instinct Magazine: Lil Nas X released a teaser video for his upcoming album “Montero” that parodies the trailers of Marvel super hero films complete with symphonic music and “universe” of characters.

• Bloomberg: The European Union plans to announce legal actions against Hungary and Poland over discriminatory, anti-LGBTQ laws passed in the two conservative countries. • Out Music: Let’s dance our way out on the last day of Pride Month with the latest from Vincint, “Kill My Heart,” from his new album There Will Be Tears. The dance floor-filler is a defiant clap back to that ex that think they won something.

• OUT: Professional rugby player Jack Dunne came out as bisexual over the weekend. The 22-year-old, who’s been out to friends and family, said he was coming out publicly to be a role model for other questioning young athletes. • Queerty: After sharing photos from a recent shoot for CAP 74024 magazine with his husband, Jwan, Ricky Martin was surprised to see he’d lost a significant number of social media followers. He had something to say about it: “Fear no longer paralyzes me.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CQrjuFtt_gD/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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Poland: Mayor Laments Anti-LGBTQ Resolution Has Become Costly Embarrassment

Poland lawmakers continue to work on a bill that would ban Pride events in the European country

A sticker promoting ‘LGBT free’ zones in Poland
In 2019, the town council of Krasnik, Poland, voted to declare itself an “LGBT free zone” in a bid to appease conservative voters. Now, Mayor Wojciech Wilk says the decision has become a costly embarrassment and turned “our town into a synonym for homophobia.” From the New York Times:

A French town last year severed a partnership with Krasnik in protest. And Norway, from which the mayor had hoped to get nearly $10 million starting this year to finance development projects, said in September that it would not give grants to any Polish town that declares itself “free of L.G.B.T.”

“We have become Europe’s laughingstock, and it’s the citizens not the local politicians who’ve suffered most,” lamented Mr. Wilk, who is now lobbying councilors to repeal the resolution that put the town’s 32,000 residents in the middle of a raucous debate over traditional and modern values.

The mayor goes on to say that unless he can get the “free of LGBT ideology” resolution revoked, his ability to access foreign funds to help pay for electric buses and youth programs is greatly reduced. The youth programs in particular weigh heavily in the town where young people are leaving. Read the full article. I’ve been reporting on the anti-LGBTQ attitudes in Poland for some time now. Last July, the European Union, of which Poland is a member, announced funding to any Polish town that violates Europe’s commitment to tolerance and equality would be cut.

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European Parliament Approves Resolution Declaring EU An LGBT ‘Freedom Zone’

European Parliament

European Parliament
European Parliament in Brussels (screen capture via France 24)
In a lop-sided vote, the European Parliament overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Wednesday announcing the 27-member European Union is a “freedom zone” for LGBTQ people. The  declaration came about after two years of rising homophobic animus in Poland and other member countries. From AP News:

The parliament announced Thursday that there were 492 ballots in favor of the resolution and 141 against in a vote that came after a debate in a session of parliament in Brussels on Wednesday.

The resolution came largely in reaction to developments over the past two years in Poland, where many local communities have adopted largely symbolic resolutions declaring themselves free of what conservative authorities have been calling “LGBT ideology.”

These towns say they are seeking to protect traditional families based on unions of men and women, but LGBT rights activists say the designations are discriminatory and make gays and lesbians feel unwelcome. The areas have come to be colloquially known as “LGBT-free zones.”

The government of Poland clapped back saying they have a right to protect their ‘traditional family values.’ The Polish government also claimed to have lower hate crime statistics than other Western European countries. But, since there’s no mention of LGBTQ people in that country’s penal code, the authorities don’t keep track of homophobic attacks. So, there’s no telling how many anti-LGBTQ crimes are committed. The president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, won reelection last year embracing anti-LGBTQ policies. During the campaign, he remarked that LGBTQ “ideology” is more dangerous than communism. Read the full article.

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Podcast: A Cowboy Christmas Movie + News From UK, Norway, Poland & Hungary

The Randy Report podcast

The Randy Report podcast delivers the week's top stories in a quick, convenient podcast - 'the 60 Minutes of gay news - only shorter' In this week’s podcast: • HIV diagnoses in the UK drop to their lowest levels in 20 years • Norway expands hate speech laws to protect all LGBTQ citizens • Lawmakers in Hungary have drafted a constitutional change that effectively prohibits same-sex couples from adopting • A citizens’ petition in Poland proposes banning Pride parades • Sarah McBride is set to become the highest-ranking transgender legislator in the country • Out political journalist Steve Kornacki shines on Election Night on social media as ‘Korsnacki’ and ‘Map Daddy’ • Don’t miss the upcoming gay holiday romance movie Dashing in December on Paramount TV All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

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News Round-Up: November 13, 2020

‘Map daddy’ Steve Kornacki (screen capture)
Some news items you might have missed: • LA Times: MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki – dubbed ‘map daddy’ or ‘chart-throb’ due to his 2020 election count performance – has so inspired millions his regular go-to khakis have surged 90 percent in sales at the GAP. • Pink News: Poland’s ugly war against LGBTQ people continues with a horrifying new bill that would ban Pride parades throughout the country. The proposed law, entitled “Stop LGBT”, would ban Pride parades as well as any other public gatherings that “promote” queer identities. #StopTheHate • New York Daily News: Donald Trump’s favorite rapper, Lil’ Pump, shared a campaign rally stage with the Donald just before the election to show his support. But it turns out the 20-year-old (who posted a video on Instagram to his 17-million followers declaring “All I gotta say is Trump 2020, b-tch!”) didn’t bother to even register to vote. The video is no longer online. • Christmas Music: Australian pop star Delta Goodrem surprised fans with a new Christmas album titled Santa Only Knows complete with a gorgeous guitar-driven duet with international superstar Olivia Newton-John, “Merry Christmas to You.”

• Axios: Donald Trump has told friends he wants to start a digital media company to clobber Fox News and undermine the conservative-friendly network, sources tell me. Some Trump advisers say Fox News enraged Trump by making an early call (seconded by AP) of a Joe Biden win in Arizona. “He plans to wreck Fox. No doubt about it” said a source.. • The Hill: Prosecutors in the case over the killing of Ahmaud Arbery earlier this year presented the court on Thursday with racist text messages and social media posts from one of the two white men who fatally shot him while he was jogging in Brunswick, Ga. • KDKA: A federal appeals court in Philadelphia on Friday rejected an effort to block about 9,300 ballots that arrived after Election Day. The three-judge panel, led by Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Brooks Smith, ruled “that the lawfully cast vote of every citizen must count.” The ruling involves the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision to accept mail-in ballots that arrived by Friday, Nov. 6, three days after the close of polling places.

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News Round-Up: October 13, 2020

Some news items you might have missed: • Reuters: The 2023 European Games, a regional Olympic event, will be held in Krakow, Poland. The announcement was met with disapproval since Krakow has embraced so-called ‘LGBT-free zone’ ideology. • Gallup Polling: Donald Trump’s attempts to push-push-push the approval of a coronavirus vaccine before Election Day appears to have backfired as Americans’ willingness to be vaccinated quickly has dropped 11 percentage points, falling to 50% in late September. • The Hill: Former president Barack Obama (above) released multiple state-specific tutorials on how to vote on Tuesday, 21 days before the Nov. 3 election. The state-specific videos included battleground states like Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. #VOTE

• Washington Post: The federal prosecutor appointed by AG Bill Barr to review whether Obama-era officials improperly “unmasked” individuals whose names were redacted in intelligence documents has completed his work without finding any substantive wrongdoing. Conservatives have tried to paint the “unmasking” of names — a common practice in government to help understand classified documents — as a political conspiracy. • Politico: For the fourth time in 3 months, an ad promoting President Donald Trump’s reelection has used footage from Russia. • The Upshot: If you’re curious about the latest polls – both national and in battleground states – hit the link. The bottom line? Today’s newly-released results show “Biden is ahead, and his lead is either holding steady or widening.” • Election 2020: Bruce Springsteen himself gave his blessing to the use of his song “Streets of Philadelphia” for a new campaign ad titled, “America Needs Pennsylvania.” This might be one of the most powerful campaign spots of the 2020 cycle. #VOTE

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50+ Ambassadors To Poland: ‘Human Rights Are Universal – Including LGBTI People’

Poland lawmakers continue to work on a bill that would ban Pride events in the European country

A sticker promoting ‘LGBT free’ zones in Poland
An open letter signed by ambassadors from 50 countries calls out Poland for hostility towards LGBTQ people and denouncing towns that declare themselves free of ‘LGBT ideology.’ The letter, which was coordinated by Belgium’s embassy in Warsaw according to the BBC, expresses the group’s support for “the efforts to raise public awareness of issues affecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community and other communities in Poland facing similar challenges.” Among the many diplomats who signed the letter are representatives from the U.S., Australia, India, Israel, Sweden, Finland, Mexico, Spain, the U.K., New Zealand and Japan. Noting that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights calls for affirming “the inherent dignity of each individual,” the open letter urges Poland to respect and protect its LGBTQ community which has faced backlash from the country’s right-wing government. “Respect for these fundamental rights…obliges governments to protect all citizens from violence and discrimination and to ensure they enjoy equal opportunities,” writes the group of diplomats. “Human rights are universal and everyone, including LGBTI persons, are entitled to their full enjoyment,” the letter reads in closing before adding, “This is something that everyone should support.” The BBC reports that nearly 100 towns across Poland have approved local ordinances denouncing “LGBT ideology.” The resolutions carry no penalties but they serve to further divide the country amid the country’s culture wars. Georgett Mosbacher, U.S. Ambassador to Poland, tweeted a link to the open letter with the message, “Human Rights are not an ideology – they are universal. 50 Ambassadors and Representatives agree.”

But Polish leaders clapped back saying LGBT people in his country are not “deprived” of respect. “To the dear ambassadors, I can only say that tolerance belongs to Polish DNA,” announced Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at a press conference. “Nobody needs to teach us tolerance, because we are a nation that has learned such tolerance for centuries and we have given many testimonies to the history of such tolerance.” That said, the Associated Press reports that conservative leaders in the predominantly Catholic nation see the modern fight for LGBTQ civil rights as “a threat to traditional families.” And ILGA Europe has ranked Poland as the worst country in the European Union for LGBTQ people.
(image via Vice News)
President Andrzej Duda won his second term in office after campaigning against equality for queer people and calling “LGBT rights an ‘ideology’ more dangerous than communism.” Poland has no legal recognition of same-sex marriage or civil unions, and same-sex couples have no legal right to adopt children. During the campaign this summer, Duda called for banning all adoptions by same-sex couples. VICE News did an in-depth report into the scare tactics and challenges LGBTQ people face in Poland this summer.

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News Round-Up: September 21, 2020

Me and the Snoop
Some news items you might have missed: • Snoop Watch: Taking a ride with Snoopy (above). He’s soooo good in the car… #BeagleLife • Law And Crime: A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled on Monday that absentee ballots postmarked as mailed on Nov. 3—namely, Election Day—shall be counted up to six days later. • The Advocate: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden denounced Poland’s so-called ‘LGBT-free zones’ as “having no place in the European Union or anywhere in the world.” Biden has pledged to make LGBTQ+ rights around the world a priority of his administration.

• Flip-Flop: In a letter to his Senate Judiciary Committee colleagues, Sen. Lindsey Graham says he’s reversed on confirming a Supreme Court Justice so close to a presidential election because he thinks Democrats were mean to Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings. • Tennessean: Former Nashville Councilman Tony Tenpenny died of complications due to COVID-19 on Sunday after several weeks in the hospital. In the months before his death, the conservative Republican shared several social media posts expressing doubts about the coronavirus pandemic including a post calling the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) “pure lying asses.” • Reuters: Spain has recorded 31,428 more coronavirus cases since Friday, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 671,468, health ministry data showed on Monday. Spain has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in western Europe and regional authorities have ordered a partial lockdown from Monday in some Madrid neighborhoods where cases are rising fast. • ETonline: I thought the Television Academy did a terrific job presenting its virtual Emmy Awards last night, although some of the attempts at comedy fell a bit flat without a live audience’s reaction. For instance, having lost earlier in the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series category (for the 4th time), a stunning Laverne Cox presented the award for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series and did a funny bit about missing out on the award. But the tone of her voice – plus no live audience to laugh along with her – made for an awkward moment, and ABC censored part of her remarks.

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News Round-Up: July 17, 2020

Broadway star Norm Lewis
Some news items you might have missed: • What To Watch This Weekend: I’ll definitely be watching Tony Award nominee and all-around super-talent Norm Lewis in concert with SiriusXM’s Seth Rudetsky at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT. Broadway audiences know the oh-so-handsome Lewis from his performances in Phantom of the Opera, Once on This Island, Sondheim on Sondheim, The Little Mermaid, Les Misérables, Chicago and more. Continue reading “News Round-Up: July 17, 2020”