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With the rise of gays and lesbians in Poland, the country’s transgender citizens fear being the right-wing’s prime target in next year’s parliamentary elections.
On the same day in June that Warsaw celebrated its pride celebration, the chairman of the conservative Law and Justice party, Jarosław Kaczyński, met with the electorate in the nearby town of Włocławek to express his contempt for trans people, The Guardian reports.
“We have a fundamental wisdom in biology, we know that gender is decided at the point of chromosomes. . . . In excessive cases, you will have to operate, but that does not mean that after this operation, a guy will be a woguy and a woguy will be a guy,” he said.
He sneered at the crowd, making a point to look at his watch, saying, “It’s half past five now; I used to be a boy, but now I’m a woguy.
Kaczyński has addressed the issue several times since then, mocking call settings and calling other trans people “abnormal. “He also insulted Poland’s first trans MP, Anna Grodzka.
The Polish government has attacked the LGBTQ network several times in the past, with the country’s president, Andrzej Duda, carrying out a successful re-election crusade two years ago over anti-queer rhetoric. He is a member of Droit et Justice.
Recently, polls have shown a growing acceptance of homosexuals in Polish society, which, according to trans activists, will make them the party’s next target. Trans Maja Heban told The Guardian that Kaczyński’s June comments amounted to a curtain “workshop” for upcoming campaigns.
Polish Krzysztof Śmiszek added that “homophobia no longer resonates as before” in Polish society. Śmiszek is leader of the parliamentary organization on LGBT equality and deputy of the New Left party.
“Poland in 2022 is not so easy to manipulate with homophobia. . . Kaczyński did not consciously treat the entire LGBT group, but only transgender people,” he said.
Emilia Wiśniewska, a member of the Polish trans rights organization Trans-Fuzja, agreed that the public still perceived gender as sexuality, as the terms were interchangeable until recently.
“A lot of other people already know who’s gay or bisexual, and it’s hard to make other people hate their friends or neighbors,” he told The Guardian. “Trans people are even less understood and accepted and that makes us a bigger target. “
Since Polish law does not recognize trans people as a class, it is difficult to trace hate crimes against them. However, Wiśniewska said this violence increased when politicians engaged in more sectarian rhetoric.
Trans activists found that advocacy within the government was “productive dead at best and counterproductive at worst,” notes The Guardian, which focuses on educating Polish society.