Activists mapping Poland’s anti-LGBT zones win in court against county that sued over “Atlas of Hate”

The activists behind “Atlas of Hate” (Atlas Nienawiści), an online map that documents places in Poland that have passed anti-LGBT resolutions, have won a court battle against a local authority that sued them over being included in the atlas.

In 2019 and 2020, dozens of local authorities in Poland – ranging from small municipalities to entire provinces – introduced anti-LGBT resolutions. Many of them declared specific opposition to “LGBT ideology” (though none used the term “LGBT-free zone”, as some media have reported).

Others adopted “Charters of Family Rights” that did not mention LGBT directly but expressed support for marriage as being exclusively between a man and a woman and pledged to “protect children from moral corruption” (language often used as part of anti-LGBT rhetoric).

Opoczna, a county of 75,000 people in central Poland, was one of the authorities that adopted such a charter. It argued in court that its inclusion in the Atlas of Hate was unjustified and “damaged the good name of the county”, reports news service OKO.press.

The charter was adopted simply to show that the county is “family friendly”, said deputy mayor Maria Barbara Chomicz. “After its adoption, many initiatives for life and family appeared.” The county was represented in court by Ordo Iuris, a prominent conservative legal body that initially created the charters.

The court in Piotrków Trybunalski, however, yesterday rejected the country’s case. It found that Atlas of Hate was simply exercising its right to “express criticism of a public authority”.

By adopting the resolution, Opoczno had entered into a public debate with all its consequences, among them “a dispute where harsh statements are made from both sides”, found the court.

“The county cannot prohibit harsh criticism of its own position, and that is what the lawsuit, in this case, boils down to,” said the court, quoted by OKO.press. Speech that offends, shocks or disturbs are “requirements in a pluralistic society”, it added, citing the position of the European Court of Human Rights.

The court also found that the criticism by the activists was guided by the public interest and that they had complied with the principle of fairness.

“3:0 to us,” celebrated Kuba Gawrong, one of those behind the Atlas of Hate, after the judgement was delivered. He was referring to two previous successes defending themselves against local authorities that had taken legal action over inclusion in the map.

Separately, a number of court rulings have found some of the anti-LGBT resolutions to violate the law and have ordered their withdrawal. Other judgements, however, have upheld some of the resolutions.

Ordo Iuris condemned yesterday’s ruling, which it said potentially “harms the Polish constitutional order”. Article 18 of Poland’s constitution states that: “Marriage as a union between a man and a woman…[is] under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland.”

Opoczna has been “slandered for protecting the family”, said Ordo Iuris’ Paweł Szafraniec, who added that he would be advising the county to take up its right to appeal.

Main image credit: Max Bashyrov/Flickr (under CC BY-NC 2.0)

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.