“Anyone who, without the consent of the person concerned, reveals his or her sexual orientation or gender identity, shall be subject to a fine, restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to one year,” reads a provision that would be included in the Criminal Code. The following paragraphs would establish that if, as a result of the act, the mental or physical health of the injured party deteriorates, the perpetrator would be subject to imprisonment from three months to five years, and if the injured party commits suicide – from two to fifteen years. This is a fragment of the draft amendments to the Polish law, which on Wednesday was submitted for use in the work of the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
The provisions on the comprehensive improvement of the situation of LGBT people were submitted to the Sejm as a petition
The bill was submitted to the Sejm as a petition. The author did not agree to disclose his details, but the professional manner in which he prepared the petition indicates that he will be able to deal with the law on a day-to-day basis. As he explains, “the contemporary legal and social situation of non-heteronomous people in Poland is not consistent with the requirements arising from human dignity,” and so he proposes a number of amendments.
Some of them are consistent with what the ruling coalition would like. The petitioner proposes, for example, regulations banning hate speech against LGBT people. The Ministry of Justice is already working on a similar bill. Another idea is to ban so-called conversion therapies aimed at changing sexual orientation. A bill on this subject has already been announced by KO MP Monika Rosa. The petitioner also wants changes to the Law on Combating Domestic Violence and the Law on Education, and the most controversial provisions concern the disclosure of sexual orientation. This is the most radical LGBT protection bill that has been submitted to the Sejm this term.
Piotr Zaremba: Civil partnerships or a state for egoists
We already know the contours of the new moral form of society according to the current ruling coalition. The selective rigor of feminist norms regarding casual sex will be associated with the general ease of freeing oneself from legal and material obligations to a permanent partner.
And the Committee on Petitions was enthusiastic about this. – The problem raised by the author of the petition is very important, very delicate, very sensitive, but it is necessary to discuss it and implement it with good and wise legal regulations – said the deputy head of the committee, Urszula Augustyn from KO, before submitting petitions for use in the Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
