Putting a weapon in the hands of the capital’s mayor’s rivals in the form of the “Trzaskowski knocks down the crosses” narrative is a mistake. Or maybe even more so. Ill-intentioned people would say that it even looked like sabotage.
One might say that this is something trivial or even obvious and natural from the point of view of the secularity of the state. Well, the mayor of Warsaw signed an order in May that there should be no religious symbols in the city hall in the places where customers are served. In fact, he signed rules on equal treatment in offices, where literally a few sentences were devoted to religious neutrality.
The guidelines for this standard state (here is the full text): “In office buildings accessible to outsiders and during events organized by the office, no symbols related to a specific religion or denomination are displayed in the space (e.g. on walls, on tables). This does not apply to religious symbols worn by people working in the office for personal use, e.g. in the form of a medallion, tattoo, armband.”
And further: “The events organized by the office are secular in nature, that is, they do not contain religious elements, for example, prayers, religious services, ordinations”.
Something that sounds – nomen omen – quite neutral, has an enormous political charge.
It is enough to construct the narrative that Trzaskowski takes down the crosses. Why did Trzaskowski raise this issue, if there are no religious symbols in the office anyway, or they are present only in traces? Yes, the Orthodox approach to neutrality even requires the removal of religious symbols from public office. Orthodoxy, however, is a recipe for locking oneself in catacombs, rather than flowing with the social mainstream.
The City Council of President Trzaskowski must explain itself to the PiS politicians and the Ordo Iuris lawyers. Although it must be careful not to admit a political mistake. After all, it is also closely watched by those who care deeply about the secular nature of the state. Therefore, the controversy must be extinguished in a way that will calm some people and not alienate others.
The city government explains itself again
In the office’s responses to the mass petitions – encouraged by Ordo Iuris – it was clearly stated in a statement prepared at the beginning of August that all people working in the office have the right “to also place religious symbols on their desk”.
Deputy Mayor Aldona Machnowska-Góra must ensure that the regulations “do not require the removal of religious symbols” and that no such action is planned in the office. In general – according to the mayor’s version – no one has torn down any crosses, and “all religious symbols are treated with respect for their value belonging to religious symbolism”. If a cross disappears, it will only happen during the renovations. Let the councillors themselves decide on the decoration of the district council meeting rooms.
The city council and Rafał Trzaskowski himself had to explain these guidelines in May, immediately after they were signed – at conferences and in the media. And now he still had to do this in writing in official documents.
In Warsaw itself, the removal of crosses from offices, of which there are few, could be met with applause. But not on a national scale. The cross hangs in the Sejm – since 1997, suspended under the cover of darkness and in circumstances more humorous than solemn – and no serious politician dares to start a crusade to remove it now. That would be asking for trouble. Removing this symbol – even if the left and a large part of the Civic Coalition or Poland 2050 wanted it deep down – would be a perfect way to mobilise the elections around PiS, a wave of sermons in churches about the fight against the cross and ultimately a political problem. Still, Poland is rapidly secularising.
In the matter of crosses, Rafał Trzaskowski made a mistake. However, he is clearly learning in another area.
Escape from marriage equality
In 2018, he said directly and publicly that he would like to be the first mayor of Warsaw to marry a same-sex couple. He emphasized that these were his “personal beliefs.” After that, he no longer showed such a progressive approach.
On the occasion of each Poland Campus of the Future, and the next edition will be soon, at the end of August, the issue of marriage equality is repeatedly raised. Young people always ask this question with resentment. They do not want to stop at partnerships. This is a difficult topic for Trzaskowski, because the ruling coalition is unlikely to change anything regarding civil partnerships – they will not even agree among themselves on how to introduce equal rights for same-sex couples. So that a same-sex couple can enter into a marriage that is legally identical to that of a woman and a man.
Trzaskowski’s answers have therefore become a ritual: he is in favor of civil partnerships and lets young people decide what happens next. He no longer emphasizes his private opinions as he did just a few years ago.
It is obvious that Rafał Trzaskowski supports solutions that are becoming standard in Western countries, namely equal rights in relationships regardless of gender. The president is – and this is also obvious in his circle – a supporter of the law that arouses the greatest emotions, namely the right to adopt children by same-sex couples.
Know when to be silent
However, Trzaskowski does not say such things. He has his personal opinions, but he hides them because they still stir up social controversy and if they are declared publicly, he will be labeled a “leftist.”
Rafał Trzaskowski is still the Civic Coalition’s most likely candidate for president in the 2025 elections and has a good chance of becoming president.
The current head of state – President Andrzej Duda – has also not publicly revealed some of his personal views. A prime example is his very strict – even orthodox – stance on abortion. Personally, Duda is an advocate of banning abortion, even in cases where the pregnancy is the result of rape. But he ran for president twice and never mentioned this publicly.
If you want to swim in the mainstream, you need to know when to remain silent. Even if it goes against your deepest personal belief. Rafał Trzaskowski finds this out because he has been burned more than once.
