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# Polish authorities deny persecuting LGBTQ+ people
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/polish-authorities-deny-persecuting-lgbtq-people/
- Published: 2020-10-04T11:30:49.000Z
- Updated: 2020-10-04T11:19:13.000Z
- Description: Pawel Jablonski, Poland’s deputy foreign minister, has denied that the LGBTQ+ community are being persecuted in the country.
- Author: Rachel Badham
- Tags: News, Politics, Queer Corner, All Out, Andrzej Duda, European Commission, Joe Biden, LGBTQ, LGBTQ free towns Poland, Poland, Ursula von der Leyen

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/pawel-jablonski-600.jpg)

Pawel Jablonski

**Pawel Jablonski**, **Poland’s** deputy foreign minister, has denied that the LGBTQ+ community are being persecuted in the country, [saying](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/poland-denies-persecuting-lgbt-people-153915535.html?ref=scenemag.co.uk) the controversial ‘LGBTQ+ free zones’ do not exist. Jablonski was responding to an open [letter](https://pl.usembassy.gov/open%5Fletter/?ref=scenemag.co.uk), signed by diplomats from over 50 countries, urging the Polish government to stop mistreating the LGBTQ+ community and to facilitate a greater level of tolerance in the country. He insisted *“every human being enjoys an equal level of protection under Polish law”* and the reports of LGBTQ+ free zones are ‘fake news’.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/duda-1.jpg)

Andrzej Duda

Despite Jablonski’s recent statement, news of LGBTQ+ free zones has been circulating since the[ re-election](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/polands-anti-lgbtq-president-re-elected/) of anti-LGBTQ+ president **Andrzej Duda** who believes the community’s ‘ideology’ is ‘more destructive than communism’. It is now estimated there are 100 LGBTQ+ free areas in Poland; head of the European Commission **Ursula von der Leyen** and US presidential candidate Joe Biden have [condemned](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/polands-anti-lgbtq-president-re-elected/) the zones, saying they have ‘no place’ in the EU.

Around 350,000 signed a recent **All Out** [petition](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/thousands-sign-petition-against-polands-lgbtq-free-zones/) demanding the EU provide greater protections for LGBTQ+ Poles, saying “hate and violence against LGBTQ+ communities in Poland are escalating”, even though Jablonski argues this is not ‘factual’.

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