In response to former Polish President Lech Walesa’s comment that LGBTs politicians should only serve in parliament “behind a wall,” Poland’s first gay and transgender lawmakers will sit on the front bench in Parliament this week.
Walesa outraged the international community with an interview this weekend in which he said gay lawmakers shouldn’t serve in the Polish parliament and that the LGBT community needs to “adjust to smaller things.”
Poland’s progressive party, Palikot’s Movement, responded by promoting Robert Biedron, the country’s first openly gay lawmaker, and Anna Grodzka, its first trans legislator, to the front for a three-day session beginning on Wednesday.
The front bench of Poland’s Parliament is closet to the Speaker and gets more television coverage. Leader Janusz Palikot is also considering a resolution asking Walesa to “change his manner of speaking.”
On Monday, the Nobel Peace prize winner said he was misunderstood, but refused to apologize. Walesa’s son, European Parliament lawmaker Jaroslaw Walesa, said he was shocked by his father’s words: “Gays, lesbians, the homosexuals, have the right to have a representation and should be [represented].”
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Good job, Poland! From what I understand it is a fairly traditional, conservative country for the most part…perhaps that is changing?