Poland's lower house, the Sejm, has
approved a measure that seeks to ban LGBTQ content in schools.
The measure, which cleared the chamber
with a 227-214 vote, would prohibit students from participating in
LGBTQ affirming clubs and events. It would also give administrators
the power to remove LGBTQ materials from schools.
Dubbed “Czarnek's Law” after
Education Minister Przemyslaw Czarnek, the bill now heads to the
upper house, where
it faces steeper opposition.
Czarnek is vocally opposed to LGBTQ
rights.
(Related: Gay
couple hands out rainbow masks on the streets of Poland.)
In seeking a second term in office,
President Andrezj Duda campaigned against LGBTQ rights.
In asking citizens for their vote, Duda
pledged to “ban the propagation of LGBT ideology” in schools and
other public institutions and compared the LGBTQ rights movement to
Communist propaganda in the Soviet Union. He narrowly beat Rafal
Trzaskowski, the liberal mayor of Warsaw, in a runoff election.
In 2020, former
President Donald Trump invited Duda to the White House.