Andrzej Sebastian Duda (born 16 May 1972) is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as president of Poland since 6 August 2015. Before becoming president, Andrzej Duda was a member of Polish Lower House (Sejm) from 2011 to 2014 and the European Parliament from 2014 to 2015.
Poland’s LGBTQ+ community marches for equality in Gdańsk: “We have the power”
Thousands of LGBTQ+ people and their allies took to the streets of Gdańsk in Poland on 28 May to march for equality. Roughly 7,500 people are believed to have taken part, according to a police representative who spoke to Reuters.
Those involved in the city’s seventh annual Equality March held placards with messages such as “Jesus would walk with us” and “We make love not war” written on them.
The slogan for this year’s event was “We have the power” and many waved Pride flags as they walked through Gdańsk. Sabina Joeck, a 24-year-old who took part on the day, said: “It’s very difficult to be queer in Poland, so it’s nice to find a place where you can be yourself.” Poland’s first Pride march took place in 2001, though LGBTQ+ equality in the country has been less stable in recent years due to the implementation of ‘LGBT-free zones’ there.
President Andrzej Duda has also expressed an array of homophobic views, including that being LGBTQ+ is “an ideology”. There was a small amount of opposition to the event in Gdańsk, with some in attendance holding Catholic rosary beads and a banner claiming that the LGBTQ+ community is a “lobby” attempting to sexualise children.
