The anti‐LGBTIQ campaign in Poland: The established, the outsiders, and the legal performance of exclusion

Abstract

Since Spring 2019, over 90 local communities in Poland adopted resolutions expressing their rejection of "LGBT ideology." Based on a content analysis of these resolutions, I show how local lawmaking was used in this case to create and reinforce the social division between the heteronormative majority and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer people. In the "anti-LGBT resolutions," majoritarian identities are territorialized by way of a construction of moralized social spaces designed to cast out the minority. Drawing on concepts proposed by Norbert Elias and John L. Scotson, I demonstrate the efficiency of law in the performance of exclusion in three dimensions: institutional, symbolic, and proxemic. | INTRODUCTIONIn 2020, an Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ) activist, Bartosz Staszewski, produced yellow rectangular signs reading (in four languages) "LGBT-free zone," styled to resemble the universally recognizable international signs that mark out military areas. The signs were then installed at the borders of some of the almost 90 local communities in Poland that have adopted resolutions declaring themselves "free from LGBT ideology" since March 2020. Next, the author took photos of individual LGBTIQ people living in these communities posing next to the signs (see Ciastoch, 2020). Staszewski reacted to the official "zooming out" of non-heteronormative inhabitants; he stressed the paradox and injustice of their simultaneous presence in and absence from the local communities. While it was not the only artistic performance of its kind, Staszewski's action was unique in identifying the clash of the territorial reality of local communities with the physical presence of LGBTIQ people as the frontline of the decades-long culture war that has culminated in the 2020 anti-LGBTIQ campaign in Poland.

When do Local Governments Discriminate? Lessons from the Spread of “LGBT Free Zones” in Poland

“…Scholars of the politics of sexuality in Poland typically focus on the following features of its development: political culture, especially, communist legacies and religious identity (Ayoub 2016;Grzymała-Busse 2016;Hall 2016;Kula 2012;Owczarzak 2009;Ramet 2006;Walicki 2000); the politics of democratization (Kliszczyński 2001;Kulpa and Mizielińska 2011;Szulc 2017); transnational diffusion (Ayoub 2016;Binnie and Klesse 2013;Graff 2008;Holzhacker 2012;O'Dwyer 2012;O'Dwyer and Schwartz 2010;Rawłuszko 2021); and social movements and political parties (Bielska 2018;Chetaille 2011;Ferens 2006;Graff 2006;Gruszczynska 2009;Krzemiński 2006;O'Dwyer 2018;Pankowski 2010;Shibata 2013). Only recently -and spurred by the advent of LGBT Free Zones -have scholars begun to analyze the subnational level (Bucholc 2022;Haas et al 2023;Lewicki 2023;Ploszka 2023;Rafałowski 2023;Sramota and Eski 2023;Żuk, Pluciński, and Żuk 2021). Subnational politics are crucial for understanding LGBT rights issues in both Poland and in other comparative cases.…”

“…The majority of these councils followed one of two templates, sometimes with minor emendations: non-binding resolutions against the spread of gender and LGBT ideology and so-called "Charters of Family Rights" (Bucholc 2022;Lewicki 2023;Ploszka 2023). 4…”

“…LGBT issues against a national backdrop of democratic backsliding because it represents a critical new stage in the politics of sexuality and gender in Poland. As noted earlier, scholars have begun to address the spread of the zones, but for the most part they have taken a qualitative, interpretive approach rather than a subnationally comparative one (Bucholc 2022;Lewicki 2023;Ploszka 2023;Żuk, Pluciński, and Żuk 2021). Wojciech Rafałowksi's (2023) study, which we discuss below and build upon, is the exception.…”

Psychometric properties and cultural adaptation of the Polish Version of the Gay Affirmative Practice Scale

“…Although significant steps have been taken to reduce health disparities among LGBT individuals, further action is needed to achieve full equality in the healthcare system, especially in Poland. Poland currently has a high rate of discrimination based on sexual orientation ( 6 ), and both conscious and unconscious homophobia in society often stem from the activities of right-wing politicians, for whom the LGBT community is a convenient target for criticizing nationalist values ( 7 ).…”

When norms clash

“…Other kinds of CSOs, like those focused on LGBT+ rights, are typically excluded from these works, although they often mobilised together with women's NGOs to advocate for 'gendered' rights. Likewise, research on the activities of LGBT+ organisations, which remains scarce, often looks back at the historical development of such organisations since communist times or focuses on the acrimonious discourse of the ruling coalition regarding LGBT+ persons (Bucholc, 2022b;Demczuk, 2021;Grabowska-Moroz and Wójcik, 2021;O'Dwyer, 2018). Little research focuses on the activities of contemporary civic organisations in countering 7 This would include, for instance, Poland's 'Zones Free of LGBT Ideology.'…”