LGBT rights set to be Poland’s electoral battlefront
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Poland’s ruling The Law and Justice Party (PiS) has condemned a new school sex education programme planned in Poland’s opposition-ruled capital Warsaw, calling it an infringement of traditional Catholic values by Western liberalism.
This comes as Poland is facing two key elections this year and the PiS is facing a decline in popularity amid corruption allegations and questions about party chief Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s business dealings.
Poland’s European Coalition, an umbrella grouping of opposition parties, has passed PiS by two points ahead of May’s European Parliament elections, according to a new opinion poll. Parliamentary elections will follow in the autumn.
Indications now are that the LGBT issue most probably will dominate the upcoming election campaigns.
Conservative politicians, Roman Catholic leaders and commentators argue such lessons will rob parents of the right to decide how their children should be educated and see children discovering their sexuality too early.
The approved lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) education programme in Warsaw is meant to teach students about sexual orientation, discrimination and reproductive health, according to standards set by the World Health Organization.
Polish bishops said in a statement that the Warsaw sex education programme would undermine democracy by limiting parental rights and eroding free speech, as children would be instructed in ways at odds with Polish tradition.
