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# Nobel laureate refuses Polish honour due to LGBTQ+ rights debate
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/nobel-laureate-refuses-polish-honour-due-to-lgbtq-rights-debate/
- Published: 2020-09-28T08:09:51.000Z
- Updated: 2020-09-27T07:07:03.000Z
- Description: 2018 Nobel Prize-winning writer Olga Tokarczuk has turned down the offer of honorary citizenship from Lower Silesia due to anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes in the area.
- Author: Rachel Badham
- Tags: Books, Community, Information, News, Out & About, Politics, Queer Corner, Andrzej Duda, Eu, Joe Biden, LGBTQ, Poland, Ursula von der Leyen

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/olga-600400.jpg)

2018 Nobel Prize-winning writer **Olga Tokarczuk** has turned down the offer of honorary citizenship from the region in **Poland** where she is currently living – **Lower Silesia** – due to anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes in the area. Tokarczuk would have been receiving her honorary citizenship at the same time as **Bishop Ignacy Dec** who has[ reportedly](https://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/celebrities/article246004200.html?ref=scenemag.co.uk) made hostile comments towards the LGBTQ+ community, saying it is a threat to the catholic church.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/olga-tokarczuk-bishop-.jpg)

Tokarczuk on the other hand is known to be an LGBTQ+ ally, and tweeted that although she is thankful to have been offered the honour, she must ‘sadly’ refuse. She continued: *“Instead of being a joyous celebration of a sense of community, it would be a vivid illustration of the painful rift in our society”.* Hostility towards the LGBTQ+ community in Poland has greatly increased since the [re-election](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/polands-anti-lgbtq-president-re-elected/) of president **Andrzej Duda** who has vowed to crack down on what he has dubbed ‘LGBTQ+ ideology’.

Around 100 regions in Poland have declared themselves [‘LGBTQ+ free zones’](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/eu-denies-funding-for-lgbtq-free-polish-towns/) by signing a pledge that promises to oppose ‘any acts of tolerance’ towards the queer community. Although several political figures including head of the European Commission **Ursula von der Leyen** and US presidential candidate **Joe Biden** have[ condemned](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/update-biden-condemns-lgbtq-free-towns/) the creation of anti-LGBTQ+ towns and cities, the zones have continued to spread and many LGBTQ+ Poles have fled the country in fear.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/lgbt-poland-600-400.jpg)