Joe Biden has condemned Poland’s “LGBT-free zones,” saying that they “have no place… anywhere in the world.”
Polish cities have been passing resolutions for the past two years declaring themselves “free of LGBT ideology” as homophobia intensifies in the Eastern European country. One-third of people in Poland are now estimated to live in an “LGBT-free zone.”
Related: Gay couple hands out rainbow face masks in Poland’s “LGBT-free zones”
Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her State of the Union address that “LGBT-free zones” are “humanity-free zones.”
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“They have no place in our Union,” she said. “I will not rest when it comes to building a union of equality. A Union where you can be who you are and love who you want – without fear of recrimination or discrimination.”
She did not mention Poland by name.
Biden re-tweeted an article about von der Leyen’s speech and wrote, “LGBTQ+ rights are human rights.” He also denounced the “LGBT-free zones.”
Let me be clear: LGBTQ+ rights are human rights — and “LGBT-free zones” have no place in the European Union or anywhere in the world. https://t.co/zc8YvSq6iN
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 21, 2020
The LGBT-free zones are mostly in the southeast of the country. The movement, led by the Law and Justice Party (PiS), is meant to remove LGBTQ “propaganda” from public, which proponents of the measures see as “Western decadence” and believe LGBTQ people “threaten our identity, threaten our nation, threaten the Polish state.”