In Medieval New Law, Polish Same-Sex Parents Blocked from Adopting Children

In a shocking announcement earlier this week, Poland will be banning same-sex couples- as well as openly gay individuals- from adopting children. The change will require intensive screening of potential adopters and will prevent those with histories of same-sex relationships or cohabitation from providing homes for children in the foster care system. This follows years of increasing pushback from the Polish government towards the global queer rights movement, and the declaration of over 100 Polish towns and regions as “LGBT free zones”.

“By targeting its own people and denying their basic rights, the government is flouting the principles of tolerance and nondiscrimination Poland committed to when it joined the EU,” said Kyle Knight, senior LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, in a 2020 statement following government crackdowns on queer rights activists. “Perpetuating the falsehood that LGBT rights threaten Polish society doesn’t protect anyone – it only feeds dangerous intolerance for which all of Poland pays the price.”

Opponents of the new law claim that the rule, based entirely on religious beliefs, not only denies gay citizens of equal rights but also serves as cruel punishment for children suffering in the foster care system. An estimated 20,000 homeless children are currently housed in the Polish foster system, and reports indicate that a lack of adequate funding means child welfare in foster homes is less than ideal. Many of these children are desperate for loving families to provide compassion and stability in their lives; a number of children are adopted to countries outside of Poland because adoptive homes within the country are not widely available. While Polish officials state that new law was introduced for “children’s safety,” advocates for foster system reform vehemently disagree.

“You really have to be a mean human being to deny children a home, whether that would be in a same-sex or heterosexual couple. Children deserve a home,” activist Bartosz Staszewski stated in an interview with Reuters.

Source: BBC News/YouTube

Current Polish President Andrzej Duda ran on a stringent platform critical of LGBTQ rights, promising from his election day forward to ban the teaching of LGBTQ-related topics in schools and prevent same-sex marriage or adoption from occurring in Poland. An increase of hate crimes and anti-gay sentiment across Poland since his election is reflective of the spike in hate crimes against religious, racial, and ethnic minority groups in addition to LGBTQ folks after the 2016 U.S. election.

The European Union has expressed disapproval of Poland’s outdated anti-queer policies, even threatening to revoke funding, but the Polish government continues to hold its stance firmly. European Parliament has declared all of EU territory an “LGBTQ Freedom Zone” in direct response to Poland’s anti-gay efforts.

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