LGBT rights groups have condemned Polish President Andrzej Duda's upcoming visit to the White House.

President Donald Trump will welcome Duda on Wednesday.

“The visit comes at a critical time for both the United States and Poland, as we reopen our countries after months of battling the coronavirus pandemic,” the White House said in a statement. “As close partners and NATO allies, the United States and Poland continue to expand our cooperation across a wide range of issues. President Trump and President Duda will discuss further advancing our cooperation on defense, as well as trade, energy, and telecommunications security.”

Polish voters on Sunday will decide whether to elect Duda to a second term. In a bid to win over far-right voters, Duda has vowed to fight so-called “LGBT ideology” and block same-sex marriage in Poland. He also called the LGBT rights movement more dangerous than communism.

“President Andrzej Duda’s visit to the White House on the eve of Poland’s upcoming presidential election is a clear and unambiguous attempt to leverage Trump’s anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in the Polish elections,” Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), said in a statement. “Rather than offering up effective solutions to the challenges facing Poland, especially during the global COVID-19 crisis, Duda is attempting to shore up his base by running on a virulently anti-LGBTQ platform. It is a vile, manipulative and dangerous election tactic that threatens the lives, freedom and dignity of LGBTQ people in Poland. By supporting Duda in advancing an anti-LGBTQ platform, President Trump, once again, shows that he is no friend to the LGBTQ community – in the U.S. or abroad. And we will hold him accountable this November.”

Freedom House, which focuses on human rights, said in a statement that the visit sends the message that the United States supports Duda's policies.

“We are concerned that the White House visit is sending a signal of political support for a candidate whose campaign has engaged in homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric,” Freedom House's Zselyke Csaky said in a statement. “The scapegoating of minority groups is a dangerous strategy and should be condemned, not supported by the president of the United States.”

Trump and Duda have met on four other occasions.