Poland remains EU’s worst country for LGBT people finds rainbow ranking

Poland remains the worst country in the European Union for LGBT people – a position it has held since 2020 – according to the annual Rainbow Europe index released by ILGA-Europe, a Brussels-based NGO.

Poland’s score in the ranking – which takes account of the legal, political and social environment for LGBT people – rose slightly, from 13% to 15%, since last year. That resulted in it overtaking non-EU states Monaco (13%) and San Marino (14%) to rise from 44th to 42nd out of 49 countries in Europe.

The top places in the index were taken by Malta (89%), Belgium (76%), Denmark (76%) and Spain (74%), while the worst results were recorded in Azerbaijan (2%), Turkey (4%), Armenia (8%) and Russian (8%). Among EU states, Poland ranks just below Romania (18%) and Bulgaria (20%).

ILGA-Europe notes that Poland continues to lack a number of legal rights and protections for LGBT people, including no form of recognised same-sex partnership and no hate crime laws relating to sexual orientation or gender identity.

It also noted that “hate speech by central government remained a serious issue” last year, pointing to anti-LGBT remarks by the education minister, Przemysław Czarnek, and the chairman of the ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jarosław Kaczyński.

In November, Kaczyński described the idea of people declaring their own gender or “12-year-old girls declaring themselves to be lesbians” to be “madness that must be opposed”. He and his party have in recent years led a vociferous campaign against what they call “LGBT ideology”.

Czarnek claimed that “brainwashing” by sex educators, such as encouraging children to change their gender identity, has caused a recent rise in suicide attempts by young people. In October he criticised “irresponsible” principals who allowed an annual event in support of LGBT people to be held in their schools.

In its report, ILGA-Europe noted, however, that President Andrzej Duda – normally a PiS ally – had twice vetoed a proposed law supported by Czarnek that would have allowed government-appointed officials to prevent schools from inviting sex education and LGBT rights groups.

It also pointed to a number of court rulings in favour of LGBT rights, including the annulment of local anti-LGBT resolutions and the rejection by the Supreme Court of an appeal by the justice minister against a discrimination ruling won by a trans woman.

Meanwhile, annual LGBT Equality Parades took place peacefully in Warsaw – whose event was held jointly with KyivPride – and other cities. Opinion polls show a growing majority in favour of legalising same-sex civil unions, notes ILGA-Europe.

Main image credit: ILGA-Europe

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.