In Poland, a survey to rank the most welcoming schools for LGBT +
Demonstration of the LGBT community in Warsaw, October 4, 2020, to protest against the remarks of the Minister of Education Przemyslaw Czarnek that LGBT people "are not equal to normal people".
AP - Czarek Sokolowski
Text by: Sarah Bakaloglou Follow
4 min
An online survey was launched among students and schoolchildren across Poland to rank the schools most welcoming to the LGBTQ + community.
The initiative comes from a Polish NGO which launched the first such survey in 2018, but it only concerned Warsaw.
This year, it is extended to the whole country.
In this way, young people must be able to choose the best high school for them, in a country where anti-LGBT rhetoric has been used by the government, in particular by the Minister of Education.
This year, the NGO wants to reward schools that have the courage to take initiatives for equality in this complicated political context.
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From our correspondent in Warsaw,
Everything happens online.
Polish students, but also teachers or other employees of the establishments, are invited to answer 17 questions about their public, private and Catholic schools.
Do LGBT + people face discrimination in the establishment?
What is the attitude of the teachers?
Are the names chosen by transgender people respected by the school?
Or: can same-sex couples dance together polonaise at the end of the year?
The survey was first launched in 2018 for the city of Warsaw.
6,000 people attended last year.
This year, all schools across the country are concerned and encouraged to become aware of these issues.
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To read: Poland: the LGBT community must always fight for its rights
Anti-LGBT rhetoric
In particular, this is to show the schools at the bottom of the ranking, which often deny cases of discrimination within their walls, that this is in fact a reality. According to a study by the Campaign Against Homophobia association, 70% of LGBT Polish youth have already had suicidal thoughts in a country where the law does not protect them much. Because in Poland, hate crime laws do not cover acts committed on the basis of gender orientation or gender identity.
Above all, this survey aims this year to reward establishments that have the courage to advocate equality, in a complicated political context.
An allusion to the anti-LGBT rhetoric used on several occasions both by the Catholic Church in Poland but also by the conservative government.
Three weeks ago, it was the strong man of the country, Jaroslaw Kaczyinski, who defended a society where "a man is a man, and a woman is a woman".
Statements on the occasion of the International Transgender Visibility Day.
►
To read also: European Parliament: a resolution of hope for Polish LGBT people
A law to "
free the conservatives at the university
"
Even more, Education Minister Przemyslaw Czarnek, appointed last year by the Conservative government, is known for his homophobic comments.
His appointment drew much criticism.
For him, LGBT people are not normal people.
The minister wants to make sure that conservative views on social issues have their place in Polish universities.
Because for the politician, conservative researchers are victims of the dictatorship of liberal leftist opinions.
“
The beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman, that a mother is a mother, that a father is a father, must be able to be expressed in universities,
” he said, alluding to an academic who had been criticized in particular for having said that the children of same-sex couples were more unhappy than others.
The minister hopes to quickly introduce a law to Parliament that "will
free the conservatives at the university
".
►
To read also: Poland: three LGBT activists acquitted in a case of "offense" to the Virgin Mary
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