LGBTQ-free zones (Polish : Strefy wolne od ideologii LGBTQ, "Zones free from LGBTQ ideology") [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] were municipalities and regions of Poland that have declared themselves unwelcoming of LGBTQ rights, [10] [11] in order to ban equality marches and other LGBTQ events. [4] [12] [13] By June 2020, some 100 municipalities (map) [2] and five voivodeships, encompassing a third of the country, had adopted resolutions which have been characterised as "LGBTQ-free zones". [14] [15] On 6 February 2024, Warsaw Voivodship Administrative Court repealed the last "LGBTQ-free zone" in Poland. [16]
Most of the adopted resolutions were lobbied for by an ultra-conservative [17] [18] Catholic organisation, Ordo Iuris. [19] [20] While unenforceable and primarily symbolic, the declarations represent an attempt to stigmatise LGBT people. [21] [22] The Economist considers the zones "a legally meaningless gimmick with the practical effect of declaring open season on gay people". [23] In a December 2020 report, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights stated that "Far from being merely words on paper, these declarations and charters directly impact the lives of LGBTI people in Poland." [24] Supporters argue that the zones defend traditional family values, while opponents argue that the zones undermine the rights of LGBTQ people. [25]
On 18 December 2019, the European Parliament voted, 463 to 107, to condemn the more than 80 such zones in Poland. [4] [12] [13] In September 2021, four of the voivodeships withdrew the measures, after the EU threatened to withhold funding. [26] [27] Poland's Human Rights Ombudsman challenged several LGBTQ-free zone resolutions. In July 2020, the voivodeship administrative courts in Gliwice and Radom ruled that the "LGBTQ ideology free zones" established by the local authorities in Istebna and Klwów gminas respectively are null and void, stressing that they violate the constitution and are discriminatory against members of the LGBTQ community living in those counties. [28] [29] In August and September of the same year, the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Lublin and Voivodeship Administrative Court in Kielce respectively issued similar judgements on LGBTQ-free zones. [30] [31] Following appeal of the decisions, the Supreme Administrative Court would agree with the decisions of the four aforementioned courts in June 2022. [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37]
Since July 2020, the European Union has denied funding from the Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund to municipalities that have adopted "LGBTQ-free" declarations, which are in violation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. [38] Poland is the only member state to have an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which it had signed upon its accession to the EU in 2004. In addition, several European sister cities have frozen their partnerships with the Polish municipalities in question. [39] Due to their violation of European law, including Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, these zones are considered part of the Polish rule-of-law crisis. [40]
In February 2019, Warsaw's liberal mayor Rafał Trzaskowski signed a declaration supporting LGBTQ rights, [22] [41] [42] and announced his intention to follow World Health Organization guidelines and integrate LGBT issues into the Warsaw school system sex education curricula. [22] Law and Justice (PiS) politicians objected to the program saying it would sexualize children. [43] PiS party leader Jarosław Kaczyński responded to the declaration, calling LGBT rights "an import" that threatens Poland. [44]
According to The Daily Telegraph , the declaration "enraged and galvanized" conservative politicians and conservative media in Poland, the "LGBT-free zone" declarations emerging as a reaction to the Warsaw declaration. The British newspaper further argues that the conservative establishment is fearful of a liberal transition that may erode the Catholic Church's power in Poland like the transition around the Irish Church. Decreasing Church attendance, rising secularization, and sexual abuse scandals have put pressure on the conservative position. [22]
Two weeks prior to the 2019 European Parliament election, a documentary on child sex abuse in the Church, was released online. [42] It was expected to hurt the Church-aligned PiS electorally, and was responded to by PiS leader Kaczyński speaking heatedly of the Polish nation and children as "being under attack by deviant foreign ideas", which led conservative voters to rally around PiS. [42] According to feminist scholar Agnieszka Graff, "The attack on LGBT was triggered by the [Warsaw] Declaration, but that was just a welcome excuse", as PiS sought to woo the rural-traditional demographic and needed a scapegoat to replace migrants. [42]
In the run-up to the 13 October 2019 Polish parliamentary election, the Law and Justice party focused on countering "LGBT ideology". [45] In 2019, it rebuked the Warsaw mayor's pro-LGBTQ declaration as "an attack on the family and children" and stated that LGBTQ was an "imported" ideology. [22]
In August 2019, the Archbishop of Kraków, Marek Jędraszewski, said "LGBT ideology" was like a "rainbow plague" in a sermon commemorating the Warsaw uprising. [46] [47] [48] Not long after, a drag queen simulated Jędraszewski's murder on stage, stirring controversy. [49]
As of 2019 [update] , being openly gay in Poland's small towns and rural areas "[takes] increasing physical and mental fortitude" due to the efforts of Polish authorities and the Catholic Church, according to The Daily Telegraph. [22] Public perception, however, has been becoming more tolerant of gay people. [22] [43] The 41 percent of Poles surveyed in 2001 stating that "being gay wasn't normal and shouldn't be tolerated" dropped to 24 percent in 2017, and the 5 percent who said "being gay was normal" in 2001 had grown to 16 percent in 2017. [43]
Anti-LGBT resolutions were passed by some Polish gminas (municipalities), [45] [21] powiats (counties), [50] and voivodeships (provinces) [22] who declared themselves free from "LGBT ideology" in reaction to the Warsaw Declaration. [51] [52] While unenforceable, activists say the declared zones represent attempts to exclude the LGBT community [21] [22] and called the declarations "a statement saying that a specific kind of people is not welcome there." [21]
The two documents declared by municipalities were a "Local Government Charter of The Rights of The Family", [53] and a "Resolution against LGBT ideology". Both of these documents were labelled in media as "declarations of LGBT-free zones", [54] but neither of them actually contain a statement of exclusion of LGBT people from any territory, activities or rights. The "Charter of Family Rights" focuses on family values in social policies and only refers to LGBT rights indirectly, such as by defining marriage as a relationship "between a man and a woman". The "Resolution against LGBT ideology" opposes an "ideology of the LGBT movement" and introducing sex education in line with WHO education standards and condemns political correctness. [55] An interactive map of Poland marking all municipalities which accepted either one or both of these resolutions, with links to their original texts, is available online, under the titles "Atlas of Hate". [56] [2]
As of August 2019 [update] , around 30 different local governments have accepted such resolutions, including four voivodeships in the south-east of the country: [45] [57] [58] [50] Lesser Poland, Podkarpackie, Świętokrzyskie, and Lublin. [57] The four Voivodeships form the "historically conservative" part of Poland. [21]
As of February 2020 [update] , local governments controlling a third of Poland officially declared themselves as "against "LGBT ideology" or passed "pro-family" Charters, pledging to refrain from encouraging tolerance or funding NGOs working for LGBT rights. [59] [60]
In July 2019, the conservative Gazeta Polska newspaper issued "LGBT-free zone" stickers to readers. [128] The Polish opposition and diplomats, including US ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher, condemned the stickers. [51] [129] Gazeta Polska editor in chief Tomasz Sakiewicz replied to the criticism with: "what is happening is the best evidence that LGBT is a totalitarian ideology". [129]
The Warsaw district court ordered that distribution of the stickers should halt pending the resolution of a court case. [130] Gazeta Polska's editor dismissed the ruling saying it was "fake news" and censorship, and that the paper would continue distributing the stickers. [131] Gazeta Polska continued distribution of the stickers, but modified the decal to read "LGBT Ideology-Free Zone". [130]
Poland's Campaign Against Homophobia responded by issuing 5,000 "hate-free zone" stickers distributed in gay magazine Replika. [127] In July, Polish media chain Empik, the country's largest, refused to stock Gazeta Polska after it issued the stickers. [48] In August 2019, a show organized by the Gazeta Polska Community of America scheduled for October 24 in Carnegie Hall in New York was cancelled after complaints of anti-LGBT ties led to artists pulling out of the show. [132] [133]
In early 2020, Polish LGBT activist Bartosz Staszewski travelled to municipalities that had said they are free from what they referred to as "LGBT ideology" to undertake what he said was a performance art project. [134] He affixed his own yellow street signs saying "LGBT-FREE ZONE" at the entrance to the municipalities, and posted photos of them to social media. [134]
The signs were so convincing that MEP Guy Verhofstadt responded by denouncing what he had mistaken for official street signage. [135] Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki described the signs as a "hoax" that had caused people to believe Poland was violating human rights, and Staszewski has been sued by at least two of the towns. [134] [136] Staszewski described his work as "a symbolic response to the symbolic resolutions". [135]
In a debate between Polish conservative Witold Waszczykowski and German liberal Alexander Graf Lambsdorff published in Zeit Online , Waszczykowski attributed the concept of the "LGBT-free zone" to the activism. He said: "There are no "LGBT-free zones" in Poland. This is a provocation created by activists. They travel from town to town, put up these signs reading "LGBT-free zone", take pictures and circulate them on social media. [137] Zeit replied: "Indeed, there is no "LGBT-free zone" by definition, but there are more than 80 county, city and regional councils that have adopted so-called family charters. In many cases these charters say that there should be no propaganda of a so-called "LGBT ideology" and they also state that "LGBT ideology" contradicts Christian values". [137]
In Rzeszów, after LGBT activists submitted a request to hold an equality march for gay rights in June 2019, PiS councillors drafted a resolution to make Rzeszów an "LGBT-free zone" as well as outlaw the event itself. [42] Some 29 requests for counter-demonstrations reached city hall, which led mayor Tadeusz Ferenc, of the opposition Democratic Left Alliance, to ban the march due to security concerns. [42] When the ban was then overturned by a court ruling, [42] PiS councillors put forward a resolution outlawing "LGBT ideology", which was defeated by two votes. [42]
Following the violent events in the first Białystok equality march [21] [138] and the Gazeta Polska stickers a demonstration for tolerance was held in Gdańsk [139] on 23 July 2019, with the slogan "zone free of zones" (Polish : Strefa wolna od stref). [140] [141] [142] In Szczecin a demonstration under the slogan of "hate-free zone" (Polish : Strefa wolna od nienawiści) took place, [142] [143] and in Łódź left-wing politicians handed out "hate-free zone" stickers. [142] [144]
According to a December 2020 report by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights:
Far from being merely words on paper, these declarations and charters directly impact the lives of LGBTI people in Poland. The Commissioner has heard testimonies about the chilling effect of these documents on residents and institutions, who are increasingly reluctant to be associated with any activity related to the human rights of LGBTI people for fear of reprisals or loss of funds. The Commissioner was told that some media outlets which have reported on these documents have been targeted by legal action, leading some of them to exercise self-censorship. She has also been told about cases of LGBTI residents being refused services by local businesses (e.g. a pharmacy) or organisations being denied the opportunity to hold LGBTI awareness-raising events. Activists working to denounce such declarations have also been subjected to specious lawsuits filed by local governments or conservative organisations and a smear campaign labelling them as liars for using creative advocacy tools, the clear intention being to intimidate and silence them. The Commissioner has received reports of many LGBTI people being shunned by fellow residents. [24]
Bożena Bieryło, a PiS councilwoman in Białystok County, said the legislation in Białystok county was required due to LGBT "provocations" and "demands" for sex education instruction. [51]
The national PiS party has encouraged the local declarations, with a PiS official handing out medals in Lublin to local politicians who supported the declarations. [45]
In July 2019, Polish Ombudsman Adam Bodnar stated that "the government is increasing homophobic sentiments" with remarks "on the margins of hate speech". [45] Bodnar said he is preparing an appeal to the administrative court against the declarations, as according to Bodnar they are not only political but also have a normative character that affects the lives of people in the declared region. [50] [145]
In July 2019, Warsaw city Councillor Marek Szolc and the Polish Society for Anti-Discrimination Law (PTPA) released a legal opinion stating that LGBT-free zone declarations stigmatize and exclude people, reminding everyone of article 32 of the Constitution of Poland which guarantees equality and lack of discrimination. [52] [146] [147]
In August 2019, multiple LGBT community members stated that they feel unsafe in Poland. [47] The left-wing Razem party stated: "Remember how the right [were scared] of the so-called [Muslim] no-go zones? Thanks to the same right, we have our own no-go zones." [148] [149]
Liberal politicians and media and human rights activists have compared the declarations to Nazi-era declarations of areas being judenfrei (free of Jews). Left-leaning Italian newspaper la Repubblica called it "a concept that evokes the term 'Judenfrei'". [152] [153] Campaign Against Homophobia director Slava Melnyk compared the declarations to "1933, when there were also free zones from a specific group of people." [154] Warsaw's deputy president Paweł Rabiej tweeted, "The German fascists created zones free of Jews. Apartheid, of blacks." [128] [151]
In March 2020, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a documentary on the opposition of the LGBT community in Poland against the introduction of LGBT-free zones in the country. [155]
In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many within the LGBT community began handing out rainbow facemasks and other P.P.E. as a direct protest of the "LGBT-free zoning" within certain local government areas of Poland. [156]
On 17 August 2020, an open letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was published urging the European Union "to take immediate steps in defense of basic European values [...] which have been violated in Poland" and expressing "a deep concern over the future of democracy in Poland". It also appealed to the Polish government to stop targeting sexual minorities as enemies and to withdraw support from organizations promoting homophobia. The signatories of the letter included among others: Pedro Almodóvar, Timothy Garton Ash, Margaret Atwood, John Banville, Judith Butler, J. M. Coetzee, Stephen Daldry, Luca Guadagnino, Ed Harris, Agnieszka Holland, Isabelle Huppert, Jan Komasa, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mike Leigh, Paweł Pawlikowski, Volker Schlöndorff, Stellan Skarsgård, Timothy Snyder, Olga Tokarczuk, Adam Zagajewski and Slavoj Žižek. [157] [158] [159]
In September 2020, the American presidential candidate Joe Biden also condemned LGBT-free zones in Poland via Twitter stating that "LGBTQ+ rights are human rights — and 'LGBT-free zones' have no place in the European Union or anywhere in the world". [160] The Polish embassy in Washington, D.C. replied that Biden's Tweet had been "based on inaccurate media information, as no 'LGBT-free zones' exist in Poland." [161]
The Atlas of Hate organization, which keeps track of the anti-LGBT resolutions, was nominated for the Sakharov Prize by 43 MEPs. [162]
As of 2023, the watchdog group ILGA-Europe identified Poland's respect for LGBTI rights as the worst of all 27 EU countries. [11] [163] [164]
On 18 December 2019, the European Parliament voted (463 to 107) in favour of condemning the more than 80 LGBT-free zones in Poland. Parliament demanded that "Polish authorities (are) to condemn these acts and (are) to revoke all resolutions attacking LGBT rights". According to the EU Parliament, the zones are part of "a broader context of attacks against the LGBT community in Poland, which include growing hate speech by public and elected officials and public media, as well as attacks and bans on Pride marches and actions such as 'Rainbow Fridays'.". [4] [12] [13]
Based upon numerous complaints that "some local governments have adopted discriminatory declarations and resolutions targeting LGBT people", the European Commission wrote to the governors of five Voivodeships – Lublin, Łódź, Lesser Poland, Podkarpackie, and Świętokrzyskie – on 2 June 2020, instructing them to investigate local resolutions proclaiming LGBT-free zones or a "Charter of Family Rights", and whether such resolutions constituted discriminatory actions towards LGBT-identifying people or not. [165] The letter can be seen as an extension of the 2019 vote in the European Parliament condemning the zones, as it notes that failure by Poland to adhere to common values of the European Union of "respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities", as stated in Article 2 of the 2012 European Union Treaty [166] could result in the loss of EU funds granted to the Republic of Poland in the future, such as European Structural and Investment. [165]
In July 2020, Commissioner Dalli announced that applications for EU-funded town twinnings from six Polish towns had been rejected because of their adoption of "LGBT-free" or "family rights" resolutions. [167]
In her September 2020 State of the European Union speech, Ursula von der Leyen stated, "LGBTQI-free zones are humanity-free zones. And they have no place in our Union." [168] [169]
In March 2021, on the initiative of the French MEP Pierre Karleskind, [170] the European Parliament declared the entire European Union an "LGBTIQ Freedom Zone" in response to the backsliding of LGBTIQ rights in some EU countries, notably in Poland and in Hungary. [171]
In September 2021, the European Commission sent letters to several Polish regional councils indicating that EU funds will be withdrawn if they do not abandon their LGBT-free zone policy. [172]
The European Commission has blocked 150 million Euro funds for LGBT-free zones, and also blocked a 42 billion Euro payment from the Covid-recovery fund, due to Poland not obeying EU law. [173]
In January 2023, the Polish town of Świdnik abolished their LGBT-free zone in response to fearing that they would stop receiving EU subsidies. [174]
In February 2023, the European Commission ended its legal action against the LGBT-free zones. [175]
In May 2023, the European Commission said that the LGBT-free zones would stop receiving EU funding if they continue their policies. [176]
In February 2020, the French commune of Saint-Jean-de-Braye decided to suspend the partnership with the Polish city of Tuchów as a result of the controversial anti-LGBT resolution passed by the Tuchów authorities. [177] [178] [179] In February 2020, the French commune of Nogent-sur-Oise suspended its partnership with the Polish city of Kraśnik as a reaction to the passing of an anti-LGBT resolution by the city authorities. [180] In February 2020, the French region of Centre-Val de Loire suspended its partnership with the Lesser Poland Voivodeship as a response to the establishment of an "LGBT-free zone" resolution by the voivodeship's authorities. [181] [182] [183] In May 2020, the German city of Schwerte ended its city partnership with the Polish city of Nowy Sącz after 30 years of cooperation due to the town's adoption of a resolution discriminating against LGBT people. [184] In July 2020, the Dutch city of Nieuwegein as well as the French city of Douai ended their twin city agreements with the Polish city of Puławy due to a "gay free zone" proclamation made in the latter. [185] [186] On 12 October 2020, the Irish city of Fermoy ended its twin town agreement with Nowa Dęba after 14 years of cooperation as a reaction to the homophobic LGBT-free zone declaration adopted by the Polish city's authorities. [187] On 13 November 2020, the Belgian municipality of Puurs-Sint-Amands suspended its 20-year-long partnership with the Polish town of Dębica because of the town's adoption of the Charter of The Rights of The Family, which discriminates LGBT people. [188]
In July 2020, the European Commissioner for Justice and Equality Helena Dalli announced that six Polish cities which adopted the "LGBT-free zones" would not be granted EU funds related to financing projects within the EU twinning project framework as a direct consequence of their discriminatory policies directed against members of the LGBT community. [189] The decision met with criticism from the Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro, however, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen defended the decision adding that "Our treaties ensure that every person in Europe is free to be who they are, live where they like, love who they want, and aim as high as they want." [190] However, on 18 August, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro announced that the town of Tuchów in southern Poland would now receive 250,000 zlotys ($67,800) from the ministry's Justice Fund, to compensate for the EU funding reversal. [191]
In September 2020, Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced that the Polish municipalities which introduced the LGBT-free zones would be denied the EEA and Norway Grants whose aim is the reduction of social and economic disparities in the European Economic Area (EEA). Poland is the biggest beneficiary of these funds and could potentially lose millions of euros of financial aid. [192] The suspension of funds only applies to the government bodies that have themselves adopted resolutions and does not apply to non-governmental organizations that operate in the LGBT-free zones. [193]
In September 2020, a group of MEPs published a letter addressed to the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in which they demanded to respect the rights of LGBTI athletes and expressed an idea to host the 2023 European Games, which had been scheduled to take place in Kraków, in a different location due to the region's LGBT-free zone status. [194] [195]
In September 2021, three Polish regions repealed their own anti-LGBT declarations in response to the threat of a funding freeze from the EU, due to its anti-discrimination laws. [196] [197]
In June 2022, following appeal from four voivodeship administrative courts which annulled resolutions relating to LGBT-free zones in 2020, the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the appeals, agreeing with the voivodeship court's decision to remove the zones. [198] [34] [35] [36] [37]
Karkonosze County is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998.
Śródmieście is one of four districts of the city of Szczecin, Poland, situated in central part of the city. In 2022, it had the population of 104 294 people, and an area of 45.9 km².
According to classes and categories of public roads in Poland, a national road is a public trunk road controlled by the Polish central government authority, the General Directorship of National Roads and Motorways. All motorways and expressways in Poland are classified as part of the national roads network.
Mokrosęk is a village and sołectwo in the administrative district of Gmina Jedlińsk, within Radom County, Masovian Voivodeship, in the east-central Poland. Sołectwo Mokrosęk contains two villages: Mokrosęk and Gryzów.
Droga krajowa nr 98 was a route belonging to Polish national roads network.
Adam Piotr Bodnar is a Polish lawyer, educator, human rights activist and politician who currently serves as Minister of Justice. He was the 7th Polish Ombudsman from 2015 until July 2021.
Łękawica is an heraldic ordinary in the shape of 2 joined chevrons, similar to letter W. Usually, it is of the colour of or (gold), azure (blue), or argent (white).
Crozier head is an heraldic ordinary in the shape of the reversed letter S, symbolizing the river.
The Maritime County was a county centered around the Gdynia and Wejherowo, that existed from 1927 to 1939, and from 1945 to 1951. From 1927 to 1939, it was located in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, in the Second Polish Republic. In 1945, it was located in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, and from 1945 to 1951, it was located in the Gdańsk Voivodeship, which, in 1945 were under the administration of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland, from 1945 to 1947, under the administration of the Provisional Government of National Unity, and since 1947, under the administration of the Polish People's Republic. Until 1928, its seat was located in the city of Gdynia, and was since then moved to Wejherowo.
The National Day of Remembrance of the victims of the Genocide of Citizens of the Polish Republic committed by Ukrainian Nationalists is an official commemorative date in Poland, marked on July 11. The date was chosen because it was the peak in 1943 of the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia when armed units of Ukrainian nationalists simultaneously attacked 99 settlements inhabited by ethnic Poles.
Nad Odrą was a district of the city of Szczecin, Poland, that functioned from 1954 to 1976.
The sea-griffin is a heraldic charge in form of an aquatic griffin with the head, upper-half, wings, and talons of an eagle and the lower-half of a fish.
National road 68 is a main road of accelerated traffic belonging to the Polish national road network. The length of the route is 11.4 kilometres (7.1 mi), of which 5.197 kilometres (3.229 mi) is maintained by General Directorate for National Roads and Highways. The highway connects the Kukuryki border crossing on Belarus–Poland border with national road 2 in Wólka Dobryńska. It runs entirely in Lublin Voivodeship, in Biała County. According to signage, national road 68 is a component of European highway E30.
National road 96 is a main road of accelerated traffic, belonging to Polish national roads network, with length of 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) and located in Toruń County. It connects motorway A1 with national road 15. With its length, the route is the shortest one of all national roads in Poland.A
Pawłowice is a district in Wrocław located in the north-eastern part of the city. It was established in the territory of the former Psie Pole district.
Krasnowola is a neighbourhood in Warsaw, Poland, located within the district of Ursynów, in the City Information System area of Grabów. It is centred around Krasnowolska Street, and mostly consists of single-family detached homes.
Ludwinów is a neighbourhood in Warsaw, Poland, within the district of Ursynów. It is part of the municipal neighbourhood of Jeziorki, and the City Information System area of Jeziorki Północne. The neighbourhood consists of lowrise single-family housing.
The Ministry of Industry is a Polish government administration body established in 2024, responsible for overseeing the minister in charge of the government administration sector related to the management of mineral deposits. The ministry under this name also existed from 1987 to 1991 as the Ministry of Industry (1987–1991).
Nadwórna County was a former Polish county (Powiat) in the Stanisławów Voivodeship in Southeastern Poland.
Bohorodczany County was a former Polish county (Powiat) in the Stanisławów Voivodeship in Southeastern Poland.
While conservative social media users cheered the move on Twitter and on Facebook, many liberal Poles connected the effort to create "LGBT-free" zones to Nazi efforts to create zones free of Jews.