Waldemar Zboralski | |
|---|---|
 Waldemar Zboralski (2009) | |
| Born | 4 June 1960 |
Waldemar Zboralski (born 4 June 1960 [1] ) is a Polish veteran gay rights activist, [2] [3] [4] politician, and journalist.
Waldemar Zboralski | |
|---|---|
| Waldemar Zboralski (2009) | |
| Born | 4 June 1960 |
Waldemar Zboralski (born 4 June 1960 [1] ) is a Polish veteran gay rights activist, [2] [3] [4] politician, and journalist.
Zboralski was born in Nowa Sól where he grew up and graduated from high school.
He became a victim to the secret Operation Hyacinth [5] [6] organised by the Polish communist police. The purpose of the operation was to create a national database of all homosexuals and people who had some sort of contact with them. [7]
Zboralski arrived in Warsaw in 1986 and lived there for two years – from January 1986 to April 1988 – where he was an active participant and organizer of Warsaw gay movement. [4] In 1987, he was a co-founder and the first chairman of Warsaw Gay Movement. [8] [9] In March 1988 Zboralski and a group of 15 people, including Sławek Starosta and Krzysztof Garwatowski, filed a formal application to register the Warsaw Gay Movement. [4] The application was rejected due to an intervention from General Kiszczak, Minister of Internal Affairs, for stated reasons of "public morality". [4]
Zboralski was called by Radio Free Europe's research as a member of “Independent movement in Eastern Europe” for the first time on 17 November 1988. [10]
According to Krzysztof Tomasik, author of the book "Gejerel. Mniejszości seksualne w PRL-u" ("Gayerel. Sexual minorities in PRL"), Zboralski was the "gay Wałęsa", "the main force behind Warsaw gay movement". [11]
Zboralski has been lobbying for the legalization of same-sex marriages in Poland, he was the first person to publish articles on this subject in the Polish press. [12]
In 2003 he was the first person to become an honorary member of a Polish LGBT organization, Campaign Against Homophobia. [13] In 2004, as an openly gay candidate of Reason Party, Zboralski was unsuccessful in elections to the European Parliament. [14] [1] In 2005 he was an unsuccessful openly gay candidate of Union of the Left for the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament. [1]
On 12 October 2007 Zboralski married his partner Krzysztof Nowak in Great Britain as the first Polish gay couple married in that country. [15] [16]
In 2020 he participated in Radio Maryja player for "conversion of as many people as possible from the sin of homosexuality". [17]
Currently he resides in England working as a registered nurse. [18]
Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric comprises themes, catchphrases, and slogans that have been used in order to demean lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people. They range from the demeaning and the pejorative to expressions of hostility towards homosexuality which are based on religious, medical, or moral grounds. It is widely considered a form of hate speech, which is illegal in countries such as the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.
Poland does not legally recognize same-sex unions, either in the form of marriage or civil unions. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have limited legal rights in regards to the tenancy of a shared household. A few laws also guarantee certain limited rights for unmarried couples, including couples of the same sex. Same-sex spouses also have access to residency rights under EU law.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Poland face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. According to ILGA-Europe's 2024 report, the status of LGBTQ rights in Poland is the worst among the European Union countries.
The All-Polish Youth refers to two inter-linked Polish far-right ultranationalist youth organizations, with a Catholic-nationalist philosophy. Its agenda declares that its aim is "to raise Polish youth in a Catholic and patriotic spirit".
Nasz Dziennik is a Polish-language Roman Catholic daily newspaper published six times a week in Warsaw, Poland. It is connected to the Lux Veritatis Foundation. Its viewpoint has been described as right-wing to far-right, and is supportive of the Traditionalist Catholicism "closed church".
Campaign Against Homophobia is a Polish gay rights organisation, which aims to promote legal and social equality for people outside the heteronorm. It was founded in Warsaw in September 2001.
Operation Hyacinth was a secret mass operation in Polish People’s Republic carried out by the Citizens' Militia in the years 1985-87. Its purpose was to create national database of all Polish homosexuals and people who were in touch with them, and it resulted in the registration of around 11,000 people.
Lambda Warsaw Association is the oldest operating Polish LGBT organisation. It was founded in October 1997 by activists of Rainbow Centre, which existed from 1995 to 1997. As a public interest organisation, its aim is to create a positive gay and lesbian identity, and build social tolerance toward sexual minorities.
Maciej Jerzy Stuhr is a Polish actor, comedian and occasional film director.
The Warsaw Homosexual Movement was an independent group of gays and lesbians which existed in Warsaw between January 1987 and summer 1988. The government of the Polish People's Republic refused the group's registration to become an NGO.
Sławomir Starosta is a Polish LGBT activist, musician, journalist and publisher of porn magazines and gay porn websites.
Krzysztof Bogdan Garwatowski, is a Polish LGBT activist, journalist and publisher of porn magazines.
Homosexuality has been legal in Poland since 1932, though LGBT rights in Poland are among the most restricted in Europe. Homosexuality has been a taboo subject for most of Poland's history; combined with a lack of legal discrimination, this has often led to a lack of historical sources on the subject. Homophobia has been a common public attitude in Poland because of the influence of Catholic Church in Polish public life and widespread social conservatism. Homosexuality in Poland was decriminalized in 1932, but recriminalized by the German authorities following the Invasion of Poland in 1939.
Equality Parade is an LGBT community pride parade held in Warsaw since 2001, usually in May or June. It has attracted at least several thousand attendees each year; 20,000 attendees were reported in 2006, following an official ban in 2004 and 2005. In 2018, there were 45,000 attendees. In 2019, there were 50,000 attendees and then powering up to 80,000 in 2023. It is a member of EPOA and InterPride.
Andrzej Selerowicz is a Polish-born Austrian LGBT activist, writer and literature translator from the English and German languages into the Polish language.
Maria Dulębianka was a Polish artist and activist, notable for promoting women’s suffrage and higher education.
Mirosława Makuchowska is a Polish LGBT rights activist. In 2020 she became a founding member of the Consultative Council created on 1 November 2020 in the context of the October 2020 Polish protests.
Lambda Groups Association was a first officially registered LGBT movement organization in Poland, that operated from 1990 to 1997. It was established by members of three unofficially functioning organizations: FILO Lambda-Gdańsk, WHM Lambda-Warsaw and ETAP Lambda-Wrocław, with notable members being: Sławomir Starosta, Waldemar Zboralski, Ryszard Ziobro, and Ryszard Kisiel. It was the second organization attempting to legalize LGBT movement organizations in Poland, with Warsaw Gay Movement, disestablished in 1987, being the first.
Kim Lee, born Andy Nguyen was a Polish drag queen of Vietnamese origin and a queer activist.
Queer.pl is the oldest online newspaper and portal marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer community (LGBTQ+) in Poland. It was established in 1996 by Radosław Oliwa, and is published by queermedia. In 2012 innastrona.pl refreshed its look and changed its name to queer.pl.
...Poker-faced, Cameron refuses to address the contradiction in his position: he says he wouldn't ally with anti-gay politicians, yet here they are, making blatantly anti-gay statements. Whenever I raise it, he tries to change the subject. All the parties in Poland are equally bad on gay rights, he says. I tell him that's not what the Polish gay equality groups say. The veteran gay activist Waldemar Zboralski says: "The Law and Justice Party is by far the most homophobic party in Poland, and Mr Kaminski is the leading symbol of homophobia in this country. It's very strange for Mr Cameron to deny this; it is indisputable...
"The Warsaw Homosexual Movement. Founded: Date unknown in Warsaw; has been told unofficially that it will be legalized this year as an independent association. Estimated membership: "A few hundred." Objectives: No aims stated. Leading personalities: Waldemar Zboralski.
Jeśli chodzi o gejowskiego Wałęsę to była taka postać – nazywał się Waldemar Zboralski. To on był takim spiritus movens warszawskiego ruchu homoseksualistów. To on był pierwszym przewodniczącym i właściwie jako pierwszy zaczął pojawiać się w mediach jako przedstawiciel homoseksualistów. Starał się być wzorem na wzór zachodni. Wtedy też pojawiła się kwestia zachorowań na AIDS, więc Zboralski jako wzór do naśladowania dla innych zrobił sobie test i pokazał go publicznie. Pochodził z małego miasteczka, z rodziny robotniczej i nosił wąsy, więc niejako naturalnie został takim gejowskim Wałęsą.
