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# Polish town reverses anti-LGBTQ+ regulations
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/polish-town-reverses-anti-lgbtq-regulations/
- Published: 2021-01-31T11:11:46.000Z
- Updated: 2021-01-31T09:23:15.000Z
- Description: Councillors in Nowa Dęba have voted to withdraw their pledge to ‘oppose all acts of tolerance’ towards the LGBTQ+ community, making it the first zone in the country to do so.
- Author: Rachel Badham
- Tags: News, Politics, Eu, Joe Biden, LGBTQ, LGBTQ+ free zones Poland, Poland, Ursula von der Leyen

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/poland-lgbt-free-zones-1.jpg)

LGBTQ+ free zones in Poland

Councillors in **Nowa Dęba** – a small town in **Poland** with around 11,000 residents – have voted to withdraw their pledge to ‘oppose all acts of tolerance’ towards the LGBTQ+ community, making it the first zone in the country to do so. According to [**Notes from Poland**](https://notesfrompoland.com/2021/01/29/polish-town-becomes-first-to-withdraw-resolution-opposing-lgbt-ideology/?ref=scenemag.co.uk), the town became an ‘LGBTQ+ free zone’ in 2019, making it one of over 100 areas which created similar regulations. However, 10 of 15 local council members voted to reverse the regulations on January 28.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/bartosz-staszewski-poland.jpg)

Bartosz Staszewski

Polish LGBTQ+ activist, **Bartosz Staszewski**, known for putting up signs outside LGBTQ+ free towns to highlight their intolerance, celebrated the news on Twitter, [saying](https://twitter.com/BartStaszewski/status/1354802959347924992?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1354802959347924992%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5F&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinknews.co.uk%2F2021%2F01%2F30%2Fpoland-lgbt-free-zone-first-nowa-deba-bartosz-staszewski-europe%2F&ref=scenemag.co.uk): *“Council members of Nowa Dęba decided to withdraw the LGBTQ+ free zone bill they declared in late 2019\. That is great!”* The country’s LGBTQ+ free zones have been the subject of [international criticism](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/update-biden-condemns-lgbtq-free-towns/), with the head of the European Commission, **Ursula von der Leyen**, saying last year that LGBTQ+ free zones do not belong in the EU. US president, **Joe Biden**, agreed, saying they have ‘no place in the EU or in the world’.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/polandlgbt600400.png)

In addition, nearly 350,000 have signed an **All Out** [petition](https://action.allout.org/en/a/poland/?ref=scenemag.co.uk) which demands action against the rise in ‘LGBTQ+ free’ zones in **Poland**. All Out – a global equality organisation – said *“hate and violence against LGBTQ+ communities in Poland are escalating”* and urge people to ‘show their solidarity’ by signing. Since the creation of the petition, the EU launched the [**LGBTIQ Equality Strategy**](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/eu-creates-greater-protections-for-lgbtq-people/), which aims to oppose right-wing regimes of prejudice against queer people after 43% of LGBTQ+ people reported being discriminated against in the last year. EU commission vice-president **Vera Jourova** said: *“We will defend the rights of LGBTQ+ people against those who now have more and more appetite to attack them from this ideological point of view…This belongs to the authoritarian playbook and it does not have a place in the EU.”*