Polish Official Frets that EU Might Tie Handouts to Marriage Equality
An official from the virulently anti-LGBTQ Polish government aired worries that handouts from the European Union might be tied to requirements to treat same-sex families with legal equality. Such a condition, suggested Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, would lead to Poland leaving that money on the table.
Voice of America reports that Ziobro fretted about the idea of Poland being asked to recognize marriage equality in a July 20 news conference.
The comments were in response to EU budget talks in which some European Union leaders suggested that monetary aid could be denied member nations that refuse to abide by "democratic values."
Poland recently experienced political upheaval when the ruling Law and Justice Party - which routinely targets LGBTQ people - attempted to exert control over that country's judiciary.
Despite that controversy, incumbent Polish President Andrzej Duda eked out a recent electoral victory in the majority-Catholic country. Duda's platform included a vow to prevent same-sex couples from gaining adoption rights, and promised to ban schools from addressing the subject of rights for sexual minorities.
Ziobro himself survived calls for his resignation in 2019 when it was reported that one of his deputies had promoted a campaign of online harassment against judges who criticized the government's attempts to co-opt the courts. That deputy resigned, but Ziobro clung to office.
Not addressing "democratic values" such as an independent judiciary, Ziobro leaped straight to the subject of same-sex families, telling journalists, "There is a real risk that we may find ourselves in a situation where the EC will effectively force us to introduce the so-called homosexual marriages with the right to adopt children," Reuters reported.
"Well, we cannot agree to this under any circumstances," Ziobro added.