Polish Pol Suggests Gays Belong, Behind a Wall

World reacts with shock

Former president of Poland Lech Walesa has shocked people around the world with his comments about gay lawmakers.

In a television interview airing last Friday, Walesa said gays should accept that they are a minority and settle for fewer legislative rights than heterosexuals. “They have to know that they are a minority and adjust to smaller things, and not rise to the greatest heights,” he told the private Polish broadcaster TVN after being asked about LGBT rights. “A minority should not impose itself on the majority.” He added that gays should be happy “behind a wall” in parliament.

Many were surprised at the Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s words, especially in light of Walesa’s history as a labor reformer and as Poland’s first post-Communist president from 1990-1995. A Polish gay rights group filed a complaint against Walesa for “propaganda of hate against a sexual minority,” according to the Guardian.

Some members of parliament were nonplussed. Jerzy Wenderlich of the Democratic Left Alliance said, “From a human point of view his language was appalling. It was the statement of a troglodyte. Now nobody in their right mind will invite Lech Walesa as a moral authority, knowing what he said.”


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