Hundreds of thousands of people are expected today in the streets of Paris, but also in Sarajevo, Lisbon, Edinburgh or Mexico City for the pride march. If France celebrates this year the ten years of the legalization of marriage for all, it is not an achievement in many other countries, including in Europe. Poland is regularly accused by the European Union and human rights NGOs of neglecting their rights.
It’s a pride march that Bart Staszewski will never forget. In 2019, he took part in the event in the city of Bialystok in eastern Poland, when the parade was attacked by a far-right group. ” One of my best friends was in a wheelchair. And the hooligans aimed at her, threw rocks and firecrackers at her », Explains this Polish activist and documentary filmmaker, who has been regularly threatened and attacked for his commitment.
Threat
The year before, the organization of the first “pride” in his hometown of Lublin, in the south-east, had already earned him threats. ” We all took out insurance that day. We had received threats online, people had sent us emails saying that a truck was going to come and run over us and kill us “.
The same year, Polish local authorities declared themselves a “free zone of LGBT ideology”. A symbolic measure indicating that LGBT people are not welcome there. Bart decides to put up posters at the entrance to these towns. His actions are publicized and denounced by the extreme right and the Polish government.
” I’ve been through the worst »
” For two weeks, I lived through the worst, I was afraid to leave my house to buy bread. I was afraid that someone would kill me or hurt me “. With the next legislative elections scheduled for the end of the year, the activist fears that far-right parties are instrumentalizing the issue of LGBT+ rights.
Read alsoPoland: a rainbow tide for the equality march in Warsaw