LGBT-free zone
LGBT-free zones (Polish: Strefy wolne od LGBT) were municipalities and regions of Poland that have declared themselves unwelcoming of LGBT rights, in order to ban equality marches and other LGBT events. By June 2020, some 100 municipalities (map) and five voivodeships, encompassing a third of the country, had adopted resolutions which have been characterized as "LGBT-free zones". On the 6th February 2024 Warsaw Voivodship Administrative Court repealed the last "LGBT-free zone" in Poland.
Most of the adopted resolutions were lobbied for by an ultra-conservative Catholic organisation, Ordo Iuris. While unenforceable and primarily symbolic, the declarations represent an attempt to stigmatize LGBT people. The Economist considers the zones "a legally meaningless gimmick with the practical effect of declaring open season on gay people". In a December 2020 report, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights stated that "Far from being merely words on paper, these declarations and charters directly impact the lives of LGBTI people in Poland." Supporters argue that the zones defend traditional family values, while opponents argue that the zones undermine the rights of LGBT people.
On 18 December 2019, the European Parliament voted, 463 to 107, to condemn the more than 80 such zones in Poland. In September 2021, four of the voivodeships withdrew the measures, after the EU threatened to withhold funding. Poland's Human Rights Ombudsman challenged several LGBT-free zone resolutions. In July 2020, the voivodeship administrative courts in Gliwice and Radom ruled that the "LGBT ideology free zones" established by the local authorities in Istebna and Klwów gminas respectively are null and void, stressing that they violate the constitution and are discriminatory against members of the LGBT community living in those counties. In August and September of the same year, the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Lublin and Voivodeship Administrative Court in Kielce respectively issued similar judgements on LGBT-Free Zones. Following appeal of the decisions, the Supreme Administrative Court would agree with the decisions of the four aforementioned courts in June 2022.
Since July 2020, the European Union has denied funding from the Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund to municipalities that have adopted "LGBT-free" declarations, which are in violation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Poland is the only member state to have an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which it had signed upon its accession to the EU in 2004. In addition, several European sister cities have frozen their partnerships with the Polish municipalities in question. Due to their violation of European law, including Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, these zones are considered part of the Polish rule-of-law crisis.