Thread by @HebanMaja

1/ ARE POLISH LGBT-FREE ZONES REAL: A THREAD.
Since every single mention of the Polish LGBT-free zones is getting bombarded by far right trolls claiming these are lies and even politicians are accusing activist @BartStaszewski of slander, I feel a proper explanation is needed.

2/ The term came from the stickers which were added to an issue of Gazeta Polska in July 2019. GP is a far right weekly magazine thriving under current rule in Poland. Their non-profit org receives state donations and their ad revenue increased thanks to state owned companies.

3/ The stickers came after a surge of anti-LGBT rhetoric which started at the beginning of 2019 after the mayor of Warsaw Rafal Trzaskowski had signed the LGBT rights card - a declaration of support for various LGBT initiatives in Warsaw. This sparked outrage and LGBT issues...

4/ became a scapegoat like never before. The government and their media (the state TV in Poland has become a crude propaganda mouthpiece, Google more but be ready to cringe) used the refugee crisis to fearmonger and scapegoat before. In 2019 they turned their sights to LGBT folk.

5/ Among the hateful rhetoric rampant in the country, municipalities in various part of Poland started to declare themselves free from/to stop "LGBT ideology" (a term used by the far right propagandists to distance themselves from accusations of personal homophobia). These were..

6/ not legally binding declarations but their message was clear - LGBT rights are a threat to the family and the nation and must be opposed. If you're not homophobic, you can see clear how stigmatizing such declarations are even if they are not no-go zone enforcements.

7/ When the stickers shipped with the July issue of Gazeta Polska, the term "LGBT free zone" really cemented itself in the Polish discussion on LGBT rights so @BartStaszewski used it to describe the municipalities that declared themselves free from "LGBT ideology" in his project.

8/ He goes to such areas and puts up real looking signs that say "LGBT free zone" in various languages. From the beginning this was shown as an activist project aimed to raise awareness of how the declarations harm real people and mark the municipalities as discriminatory.

9/ In the far right media and politics, he is however painted as a villain who spread fake news and slanders Poland in the eyes of EU. Do not believe anyone who says this. The term "LGBT free zone" is older than Bart's project and so are the declarations of "freedom from LGBT".

10/ Moreover, DO NOT believe people who bring up the fact that municipalities started to switch to "Local Cards of Family Rights" instead of "Declarations of freedom from LGBT ideology". These "cards" also make references to "foreign ideology". They are PR-friendly versions...

11/ written by @OrdoIuris, a far right think tank made up of well educated religious fanatics with international roots. They contacted dozens of local governments and lobbied for them to declare their family rights cards. The spread of the "LGBT free zones" is largely their work.

12/ To sum up: "LGBT free zones" are real. They are not no-go zones but their message is clear: LGBT people are dangerous and LGBT rights are a threat. If someone calls the this fake news, they are manipulating you and withholing facts. PLEASE SHARE and read more on Wikipedia.