From Pride to Politics: Niche-Party Politics and LGBT Rights in Poland

Abstract

In recent years, several post-communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe, among them Poland, have experienced rising levels of political homophobia (Graff 2010; Puhl 2006). Politicians have portrayed LGBT citizens as the ultimate `other' and have threatened the rights and safety of their communities in order to win electoral support of the majority population. Such instrumental use of homophobia seems to work best in societies where homosexuality remains deep in the realm of the taboo. Russia's laws against `homosexual propaganda', adopted in 2013, are perhaps the most extreme manifestation of this phenomenon, but across Central and Eastern Europe, the past decade offers plentiful evidence of growing politicization of homosexuality: the indicators range from public opinion data to politicians' rhetoric, to the bureaucratic hurdles encountered by LGBT activists in organizing Pride parades (Ayoub 2013, 2014; Buzogány 2008; Graff 2010; Kuhar and Takacs 2006; O'Dwyer and Schwartz 2010).