Unthinkable during the years of conservative PiS party propaganda on Polish national TVP, but now the LGBTIQ+ community in Poland got a “sorry” for being bashed and pictured as a national enemy by public figures on national TV over the past eight years.
It is a clear sign that things have changed – at least from the government’s perspective – when the more liberal Prime Minister Donald Tusk took power after last year’s parliamentary elections.
“For many years, disgraceful words have been used in Poland towards many people, simply because they have related to who they think they are and who they love,” show host Wojciech Szeląg said on Sunday 11 February on TVP.
“LGBT+ people are not an ideology, but people. They have names, faces, relatives and friends. Those people should hear the word ‘sorry’ from somewhere. It is based on this that I say sorry,” as he addressed the nation and the guests from the community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or questioning, in the studio. The guests on screen looked rather surprised by the sorry, but the move by TVP was subsequently cheered on by many on social and government controlled media in Poland.
After months of turmoil
The sorry to LGBTIQ+ comes after months of turmoil around the national television, when the new Tusk government temporarily even shut down the nation’s TV, and fired its leadership and anchor men and women appointed under the former PiS government.
It invoked public reaction of the Polish president, a member of the PiS party, accusing the new prime minister for not obeying the constitution. Tusk openly fired back at the president that following the law and constitution was exactly what he was doing “as I made clear to you, Mr. President”.
Powerful Polish catholic church
With the “sorry” by TV host Szeląg Poland is not there yet. Within the powerful Polish catholic church still influencing most of the village people where the PiS party has its base, the stand against the LGBTIQ+ by many priests continues. About 40% to 45% of the Polish people still support the PiS party and its ultra-right allies. Regional governments are also still mostly under PiS control, which now has TV Republika airing via the internet as its main propaganda channel.
PiS still controls the regions and villages
The Polish cities mostly have a more liberal leadership. This leads sometimes to weird situations like in the Małopolska region of Southern Poland. While PiS controls the regional government in Kraków and most of the villages, the City of Kraków itself is under the liberal control of allies of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The hatred incited by the PiS government against the LGBTIQ+ will not easy ebb away. | © 2024 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured photo by JamesInOregon