{"id":823,"date":"2020-11-12T23:47:44","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T22:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=823"},"modified":"2020-11-24T12:58:38","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T11:58:38","slug":"the-only-way-to-support-each-other-is-to-fully-understand-each-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/823\/the-only-way-to-support-each-other-is-to-fully-understand-each-other\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe only way to support each other is to fully understand each other\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe LGBT + community ideology is more destructive than communism\u201d, these were the words president Andrezj Duda used in his campaign speech. As the political leader of the PiS party (law and justice) in Poland, he won the majority of the votes with his conservative-nationalist agenda which is based on catholic values. The party is one of Poland\u2019s most conservative parties and opposes LGBT + rights, in particular same-sex marriages. Recently, President Duda signed a law which prohibits gay couples from adopting a child. Duda\u2019s statement about the new law shows that it is signed because he worries about the safety and well-being of the child. He also banned teaching about LGBT + issues in schools. \u00a0And in 2019, Poland declared some \u201cLGBT-free zones\u201d wherein 2020 almost one hundred municipalities adopted these \u201cLGBT-free zones\u201d which leads to a third of the country. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sebastian, Filip and Konrad are polish and part of the LGBT+ community, they share their concerns about the current situation in Poland and how they think the European Union can play a bigger role to stop the discrimination. Filip\u2019s family doesn\u2019t know that he loves someone from the same sex, he is kind of scared to be pushed back from his family. Especially his grandmother doesn\u2019t have anything good to say about homosexuality. Sebastian tells that his family is very supportive but worry about the LGBT + discrimination is something which is not their priority. In the video’s below, you hear their reaction to the question of how they feel about the discrimination towards the LGBT + community in Poland.<\/p>\n\n[aesop_video src=”youtube” id=”2PvlTrXES5M” width=”50%” align=”center” disable_for_mobile=”on” loop=”on” controls=”on” mute=”off” autoplay=”off” viewstart=”off” viewend=”off” show_subtitles=”off” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n\n\n[aesop_video src=”youtube” id=”3RLNoKE0_Y8″ width=”50%” align=”center” disable_for_mobile=”on” loop=”on” controls=”on” mute=”off” autoplay=”off” viewstart=”off” viewend=”off” show_subtitles=”off” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n\n\n[aesop_video src=”youtube” id=”VGqzqOeWHf8″ width=”50%” align=”center” disable_for_mobile=”on” loop=”on” controls=”on” mute=”off” autoplay=”off” viewstart=”off” viewend=”off” show_subtitles=”off” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n

According to the Treaty of Functioning of the European Union, there is no space for discrimination bases on sexual orientation and will be prohibited in the charter of the human rights article 21. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen gave her first \u2018state of union\u2019 speech and called out hatred to build a \u2018union of equality\u2019. She continued her speech with the statement: \u201cbeing yourself is not your ideology, it is your identity\u201d and that there is no space for \u2018LGBT+ free zones\u2019 in the European Union. With this statement, she referred to president Duda. Von der Leyen also stopped the funding for six Polish cities because of their support to the \u2018free zones\u2019. As Filip and Sebastian mentioned, this means that cities and municipalities can apply for a fund between \u20ac5.000 – \u20ac10.000 of Europe for citizens project to stimulate debate the civic participation. The main call to be eligible is that it has to be accessible for all EU citizens without any form of discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation. The Polish minister of defence Mariusz B\u0142aszczak accursed the decision of the commission and claims that the EU has to \u201crespect all views of the member states, included discrimination\u201d. But according to Filip and Sebastian, the European Unions doesn’t do enough to stop the discrimination.\u00a0Sebastian says that they are changing some rules for European member states in which you don\u2019t have to get the full majority of the countries voting for other countries to exclude them. Now you can arrange that if you have the majority plus one. For example, Hungary and Poland always protect each other with their veto. So, if you change this, you give the power to the European Union, which I think is a good solution\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\t\t