A Polish region has lost 7.6 million zloty (€1.7 million) in grants from Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein after passing a resolution declaring opposition to “LGBT ideology”.
The decision by officials of the EEA and Norway Grants programme to pull out of funding a major natural heritage project in the Carpathian mountains was made in autumn last year, but came to light this week after an LGBT activist published letters which have now been confirmed as genuine.
A number of municipalities in Poland have already had European Union and EEA and Norway funds withdrawn, as well as twinning agreements with western European partners suspended, after adopting anti-LGBT resolutions.
However, the “Carpathian Route” project, which was to promote cultural and natural heritage in the region, is the largest to lose its funding. Podkarpackie province, in south-eastern Poland, was to lead the project, involving cooperation with institutions from other countries in the region.
According to activist Bartosz Staszewski, who revealed the cancellation of funding and posted letters confirming it, the reason for the decision was that the same councillors of the regional assembly who approved it in June 2019 had, just one month previously, voted in favour of a resolution opposing “LGBT ideology”.
A letter sent in September by the head of funds for EEA and Norway Grants confirms that a resolution “to resist the promotion of LGBT ideology” was the reason for the cancellation, as the province was going “fundamentally against the respect for human rights” that was a condition of such grants and therefore “not capable of implementing the project”.
Another letter reveals that the chairman of the EEA Financial Mechanism Committee wrote to the Polish ministry of development funds and regional policy in July expressing the donors’ concerns about regional authorities in Poland “declaring themselves so-called LGBTI-ideology free zones”.
“We share the view of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, that such zones are humanity free zones and that they have no place in Europe” or “in our grant schemes either,” the letter from September read.
The ministry’s assurances that access to all grants was free from discrimination did not satisfy the committee, which decided that funding Polish state entities that have adopted such resolutions violated its regulations.
The cancelled funding amounts to €1.7 million (7.6 million zloty), according to Staszewski, who added that no information was available from Podkarpackie province or Polish government ministries on the decision.
The Norwegian foreign affairs ministry, which sent the activist copies of correspondence with the Polish authorities, confirmed that the documents were genuine, reports Reuters.
Last week, the town of Nowa Dęba became the first in Poland to withdraw a resolution declaring opposition to “LGBT ideology”. This news was also first reported by Staszewski, who has become known for placing “LGBT-free zone” signs outside localities that have passed such declarations.
Around 100 local and regional authorities – often under the control of the nationally ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party – have adopted anti-LGBT resolutions. Over half of them refer to “LGBT ideology” (though none explicitly call themselves “LGBT-free zones”).
Most of the remainder have passed so-called “family charters” that do not directly mention “LGBT” but do reject same-sex marriage and promise to “protect children from moral corruption” – language often used to suggest that the LGBT movement is a threat to Polish youth.
In July last year, the European Commission rejected funding applications from six Polish towns because of “LGBT ideology free zones” adopted by their authorities.
In September, one district voted to withdraw a family charter (that did not directly mention LGBT) because councillors said it discriminated against single parents or unmarried couples raising children, reports TVN. The town of Tomaszów Mazowiecki did the same in November over fears it could lose Norway funds, reports Radio Maryja.
In some cases, Polish courts have also declared anti-LGBT resolutions to be in violation of the constitution, though others have rejected such arguments.
Poland’s government – which has led a vocal campaign against “LGBT ideology” – has pledged to support municipalities that lose funding due to anti-LGBT declarations. Last August, the justice minister handed a cheque to one such district to compensate it for being excluded from the EU’s town twinning programme.
Main image credit: Max Bashyrov/Flickr (under CC BY-NC 2.0)
Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.
