Poland’s first openly gay government minister spoke to the Washington Blade on Tuesday about the battle for LGBTQ rights in his region, Ukraine, and the United States. S. politicians.
Krzysztof Miszek, the deputy justice secretary, took over on December 13 after Donald Tusk became prime minister.
The Civil Coalition, a group of opposition parties that Tusk leads, two months earlier won a majority of votes in the Sejm, the lower house of Poland’s parliament. As a member of the governing coalition, leader Andrzej Duda, a member of the traditional Law and Justice group, continues to serve.
Śmiszek, a member of the New Left group, has been a member of the Sejm since 2019.
He was born in Stalowa Wola, a town in southern Poland that is close to the state’s borders with Ukraine and Slovakia. Śmiszek presently represents Wrocław, the state’s second-largest city, which is located in southwestern Poland.
He is a solicitor who worked for the Campaign Against Homophobia, a Polish LGBTQ rights party, for several years before he entered politics. Śmiszek’s partner is former MP Robert Biedroń, who is now a member of the European Parliament.
Miszek told the Blade in an interview at his department that the Justice Ministry has proposed a bill that would include gender identity and sexual orientation in Poland’s hate speech and hate crimes rules.
The Council of Ministers, which includes members of Tusk’s Cabinet, is expected to review the plan in the coming months. Miszek said that even though some people believe the measure would restrict complimentary speech, MPs will still help it.
“It was quite natural for us, I may say, to agree on that,” he told the Blade. “During the earlier state, we all witnessed all these claims and terrible steps toward LGBT people.”
Duda became Poland’s leader in 2015.
He said before he defeated Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski in the country’s 2020 presidential election that LGBTQ “ideology” is more dangerous than communism. Additionally, Duda claimed that LGBTQ Poles “want to sexualize kids” and “are a risk to the family.”
Prior to the election, more than 100 municipalities in Poland passed resolutions declaring themselves to be “LGBT-free zones.”
While the European Union cut funding to communities that adopted them, the Law and Justice Party and Poland’s renowned Roman Catholic Church backed them. The Administrative Court for the Warsaw Voivodship on February 6 struck down the country’s final “LGBT-free zone” resolution that Mordy, a town in Siedlce County in eastern Poland that is roughly halfway between Warsaw and the Belarusian border, adopted in 2019.
Tusk has indicated his support for a bill establishing civil partnerships, but Miszek acknowledged that it will face a “huge” fight to pass because it is not a mandated component of the coalition government’s manifesto.
Mißzek noted that Poland has abandoned its antagonism to the event of a transgender person who sued the European Union Court of Justice in Luxembourg after Romania rejected his request for recognition of his lawful name and identity change.
“We are trying not only to alter the legal position of LGBTI people here in this region, but also we are taking a completely fresh approach, even of Poland, as a member of the European Union,” he said.
Transgender activists were first present at the Justice Ministry next month.
Śmiszek said former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, a part of the right-wing Royal Poland party, wrote many of the past government’s ideas that precise LGBTQ people and women. Miszek more described the government as a “governmental center of anti-LGBTI activities” before the present government took office.
After eight decades of producing hatred here at this government, he said, “that was a very moving meet.”
Misszek pointed out that a bill that would have simplified the procedure for transgender Poles to have gender-affirming surgery was Duda’s second presidential veto. Mißzek expressed his desire for the new government to “improve the life of trans people in terms of relations with the position and with the supervision,” but he also acknowledged that it “is challenging. He added that the Catholic Church, the Constitutional Tribunal, and Duda continue to be obstacles to the improvement of LGBTQ rights.
“We are not starting from scratch in terms of new activities,” Śmiszek told the Blade. “We are getting back to the good answers.”
“However, we are totally aware that there are plenty of traditional anchors and blockages in the administrative structures,” he added.
Miszek added that Tusk, his brother ministers, and Members are not concerned about his sexual preference.
He claimed, “I haven’t heard any arguments about whether or not this person should work in the ministry.” My physical arrangement is not a problem at all.
Poland is familiar with Russia‘ very also.
Russia on February 24, 2022, launched its battle against Ukraine.
Mißzek noted that more than 2 million Russians sought shelter in Poland, and many of them have remained there.
Polish world passed its test for humanitarian assistance and kindness for those who have been the victims of this violent Russian conflict, said Miszek.
Soviet weapon launched on November 15, 2022, killed two persons in Przewodów, a town Hrubieszów County that is on the Ukrainian border. On March 24, another Russian weapon recently entered the Finnish airport close to Oserdów, a community that is less than five yards from Przewodów.
Mißzek told the Blade that he is extremely concerned about the war’s potential unfold to Poland itself, Lithuania, which edges Poland, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as to the European countries.
Poland borders Kaliningrad, a Russian procedure on the Baltic Sea.
“We are observing then, especially during the last few months, that something is going to happen,” he said.
Mißzek acknowledged that Ukraine has experienced losses on the field in recent months and that the U.S. S. is not very willing to assist.
“You may see Trump, what he is saying. You can also view some European countries that are still hesitating,” he said. We are the second or third target of Putin if the United West doesn’t put a stop to it, and this is a growing, unspoken emotion in Polish society that something is going to happen. It will knock on our doors in the next few years.
Mißzek added that Poland is “very also” acquainted with the Russians.
That is why, according to him, this is not uncommon when a Pole considers the invasion of our nation by Russia. “It’s happened previously.”
In the hopes that a bill approving a financing costs for Ukraine would be passed, Tusk and Duda met with President Joe Biden last month at the White House. Miszek criticized the wait in a letter to the Blade.
“I know that they are trying to build their reputation, saying we should never spend billions of dollars for the war that do not worry us and Russia will not harm us, blah, blah, blah,” he said. “In a way I do know this speech, but I don’t know … it’s actually a short-sighted method.”
I firmly believe that the U.S. technique will change. S. because we always think the United States is a huge risk to global democracy, human rights, and. S. as a kind of guarantee of global politics,” he added. The U.S. is present this day. S. is failing to pass its test, particularly in American politics that is conventional.”
Mißzek stated that Poland would keep cooperating with the United States. S. , regardless of who wins this year’s presidential vote. Nevertheless, he did raise concerns about former President Trump because of his views on LGBTQ and sexual freedom and his U.S. S. Supreme Court nominees and Ukraine.
“This is kind of worrying,” said Śmiszek. The man who has no control over what his decisions will be when the moment comes and it will be a necessity to make very important decisions regarding the balance of the world is now in charge of this kind of approach to important issues that are crucial to the balance of the world.”
In terms of ideals, he said, “He portrays himself as rather unstable,” he continued.
