Polish government approves criminalisation of anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech

The Polish government has approved proposals to expand the scope of its hate crime laws by including sexual orientation, gender, age, and disability as protected categories. Offenders committing such crimes may face imprisonment.

Polish law already criminalises “public insult based on national, ethnic, racial, or religious affiliation,” with penalties of up to three years in prison.

The justice ministry, however, believes that “these provisions do not provide sufficient protection for all minority groups who are particularly vulnerable to discrimination, prejudice, and violence.”

As a result, according to ‘Polskie Czasy’, it seeks to amend the laws to also penalise discrimination based on disability, age, sex/gender (noted as płeć in Polish, which can mean either word in English), or sexual orientation. “The new regulations aim to more fully implement the constitutional prohibition of discrimination and to meet international recommendations on standards of protection against hate speech and hate crimes,” stated the justice ministry, which drafted the new legislation.

Previously, the UN’s Human Rights Council raised concerns about Poland’s penal code lacking provisions for disability, age, sexual orientation, or gender identity as bases for hate crimes.

Including sexual orientation and gender in Poland’s hate crime laws was part of the coalition agreement that brought a more liberal government to power late last year, ending eight years under the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party.

This shift signified a departure from a period when PiS conducted a vocal campaign against what it termed “LGBT ideology” and “gender ideology.” Such rhetoric contributed to Poland being ranked as the worst EU country for LGBTQ+ individuals for five consecutive years.

The newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza notes that the initial draft of the legislation also included “gender identity” (tożsamość płciowa) as a protected category. However, the justice ministry ultimately decided that the term sex/gender (płeć) was “sufficient to ensure an appropriate level of protection.”

This decision was criticised by Lambda, a leading LGBT+ rights organisation, as “disturbing.” Trans-Fuzja, an advocacy group for trans rights, warned that this change could leave “one of the most excluded and vulnerable groups unprotected.”

According to the proposed legislation, cases of public insult motivated by bias against the protected groups or incitement to hatred against these groups can lead to sentences of up to three years in prison. Instances of violence and unlawful threats can result in jail terms of up to five years.

The government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, approved the draft legislation during a Tuesday meeting. It now proceeds to parliament, where the government holds a majority, for approval. Should it pass, President Andrzej Duda, an ally of PiS, may sign the bill into law, veto it, or refer it to the constitutional court for review. In his 2020 re-election campaign, Duda criticised “LGBT ideology,” deeming it “evil.”

However, Duda’s second and final term as president will conclude next year, with the ruling coalition aiming for one of their candidates to succeed him.

Meanwhile, PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński has asserted that “LGBT ideology…weakens the West” and “terrorizes people.” Archbishop of Kraków, Marek Jędraszewski, has also incited controversy by comparing “LGBT ideology” to communism and Nazism.

Nevertheless, despite the lack of specific legal protections, LGBTQ+ groups have achieved certain victories, such as earlier this year when a court delivered a binding legal conviction for defamation against the leader of a conservative group that drove vans displaying slogans associating LGBTQ+ individuals with paedophilia.

The head of this conservative group lost his appeal against the defamation conviction regarding the vans displaying messages linking LGBTQ+ people to paedophilia.