Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work!
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland’s defence minister has cancelled a training course for military personnel that focused on “gender perspectives in military operations” after it prompted criticism from the right-wing opposition and alleged discontent among soldiers.
“The topic of supplementary training regarding gender was proposed by the chairwoman of the Council for Women’s Military Service and approved by the defence ministry’s human resources department,” wrote the ministry in a statement on Monday.
“By decision of the defence minister, this item has been withdrawn from the 2026 supplementary training programme,” they added.
Komunikat MON
Temat szkolenia uzupełniającego dot. gender na 2026 r. został zaproponowany przez Przewodniczącą Rady do Spraw Wojskowej Służby Kobiet i zatwierdzony przez Departament Kadr MON. Decyzją Ministra Obrony Narodowej punkt ten został wycofany z programu szkoleń… pic.twitter.com/EFZ6xESx7g
— Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej 🇵🇱 (@MON_GOV_PL) February 16, 2026
News of the training course, titled “human rights and the gender perspective in military operations”, was first reported by Blask, a celebrity and lifestyle news service initially launched by right-wing broadcaster Republika but now operating independently, though with continued links to Republika.
Its article claimed that “Rainbow Władek” – using the diminutive form of the name of defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz – is “forcing leftist ideology into the army”.
They quoted two unnamed soldiers saying that they were “surprised” and “frustrated” by the inclusion of gender-related training.
“Many of us believe the army should focus on preparing for military operations, not on issues that some in the community perceive as ideological,” said one of them. “The unit is already saying that this is unnecessary and that such content has nothing to do with daily service.”
🔥 "Tęczowy Władek" wtłacza do wojska lewacką ideologię. Żołnierze szkolą się z… gender https://t.co/jmoXi5U9Z0
— Blask Online (@BlaskOnline) February 16, 2026
News of the training course was quickly criticised by Poland’s right-wing opposition. Andrzej Śliwka, a lawmaker from the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, told Republika that it showed Kosiniak-Kamysz “has no idea what he is doing”.
“When the entire world, with the USA at the front, is moving away from ‘woke’ culture…Kosiniak-Kamysz is introducing such inventions,” said Śliwka. “I’m waiting for him to come up with the idea of biodegradable missiles or electric tanks.”
Mariusz Błaszczak, who served as defence minister in the former PiS government and is now head of the party’s parliamentary caucus, also commented on the issue at a press conference.
“Today we heard that [the concept of] gender will be introduced in the military,” he said, quoted by the Interia news service. “We cannot give in to such blackmail by such irrational people, who are trying to push the United States out of Europe.”
When PiS was in power before 2015 and 2023, it led a campaign against what it called “gender ideology”, which is portrayed as a dangerous idea, imported from the West and propagated by left-wing groups, that undermines traditional Polish values and even threatens the existence of the Polish state.
In December 2023, a new, more liberal ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk took power. It promised to strengthen LGBT+ rights, but has so far introduced no new legislation to that effect.
Nevertheless, PiS has criticised the Tusk administration for being more LGBT-friendly as well as for harming Poland’s relations with the United States under President Donald Trump.
"Poland will not be a vassal" of America, says PM @donaldtusk. "Allied relations cannot consist of constantly saying yes to everything."
He suggested that President Nawrocki, a Trump ally, favours Poland having such a subservient role to Washington https://t.co/PIILt1AOlB
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) February 12, 2026
When initially contacted by Blask, the defence ministry’s spokesman, Janusz Sejmej, said that he was unaware of the course in question and that “this is the first time in my two-year career [at the ministry] that I’ve encountered information that gender is included in training”.
However, later on Monday, the ministry announced that it had cancelled that element of training. No details of what the course would have involved have been released.
The head of the ministry, Kosiniak-Kamysz, is the leader of one of Tusk’s junior coalition partners, the centre-right Polish People’s Party (PSL), which is the most conservative element of the government and has generally opposed moves to strengthen LGBT+ rights.
Poland’s government has presented a bill to introduce legally recognised partnerships for same-sex couples https://t.co/PStNb7DoFz
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 19, 2024
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Krzysztof Sitkowski/KPRP
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
