Sweden is the eighth best country in the EU for LGBTQ people.
For the fourth year in a row, Poland is last on the list.
– After so many years with this constant fear that someone might attack me, I can no longer hold my boyfriend’s hand, says Polish LGBTQ activist Bart Staszewski.
Poland is a traditionally conservative country with a very strong Catholic Church. For the fourth year in a row, the country now ranks as the worst in the EU when it comes to LGBTQ rights, according to the organization ILGA.
LGBTQ activist Bart Staszewski says he no longer dares to hold his boyfriend’s hand, for fear of being attacked.
– We only do it when it’s the Pride Festival. At the Pride festival in Poland there are lots of police. It’s the only place where I feel safe enough to hold my boyfriend’s hand in public.
Law and Justice, the party that has governed Poland since 2015, is also distinctly anti-LGBTQ.
But that may change in the future. This autumn there are parliamentary elections in Poland. A win for the opposition would perhaps open up more rights.
– We don’t have civil partnerships, we don’t have the same right to demonstrate, we don’t have laws against hate propaganda that could protect us against all this hatred. So our fight is real, says Bart Staszewski.