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KRAKOW, Poland (ChurchMilitant.com) - During a performance, an angry Polish drag queen murdered a faithful archbishop in effigy for upholding Catholic teaching.
Rebell violently slit the doll's throat with a pair of scissors and covered his top with presumably artificial blood.
Rebell violently slit the doll's throat with a pair of scissors and covered his top with presumably artificial blood.
Rebell was angry at Jędraszewski, the archbishop of Krakow, for opposing the LGBT movement's attempts to advance in Poland and referring to the movement as a "rainbow plague."
In a homily given Aug. 1 in St. Mary's Basilica in Krakow, Poland, Jędraszewski compared the LGBT movement to communism: "Thankfully, the red plague [communism] isn't stalking our land anymore, which doesn't mean the new one hasn't arrived, trying to conquer our souls, our hearts and our minds. Not Marxist, nor Bolshevik, but born from the same spirit, neomarxist. Not red, but rainbow [the LGBT movement]."
Mr. Gay Poland, the organizer of the event, released a statement Aug. 15 to apologize for the murder in effigy which the group claims it knew nothing about prior to the performance:
Mariolkaa Rebell
We oppose all types of hate speech, incitement to violence and other types of promoting this attitude. We want to apologize to everybody who felt offended by the performance of one of the Drag Queens during our event. We would also like to point out that we were not informed about the details of the performance beforehand. We do not accept this kind of performance.
Some LGBT activists defended the performance, saying that Rebell was simply letting off some steam and not trying to incite violence in any way.
Mariusz Drozdowski, a transsexual lecturer at the University of Warsaw who runs a blog called Her Perfection, said that Rebell's performance did not offend him as a Catholic, LGBTQ+ person or human being.
I am more than certain that the show was not a call to violence, but an attempt to express artificially certain emotions that build up in many by words from the hierarchy. In short: Mariolkaa Rebell wanted to show that she was pissed off and powerless, not that someone had to be attacked.
Marcin Makowski, a Polish journalist, interpreted the performance differently, noting hypocrisy between claiming one wants tolerance while refusing to tolerate those who disagree.
Mariolkaa Rebell (center) with friends
"Stop hate, stop exclusion, we just want the same rights as others. And then during the 'Mr. Gay Poland 2019' competition, an 'artist' comes out on stage who 'imitated cutting the throat of Archbishop Jędraszewski in his show,'" said Makowski in a tweet.
Stop nienawiści, stop wykluczeniom, chcemy po prostu takich samych praw, jak inni. A potem podczas wyborów "Mr Gay Poland 2019" na scenę wychodzi "artysta", który "w swoim show imitował podcinanie gardła abpowi Jędraszewskiemu". pic.twitter.com/MYabX8efV8
Those opposing Rebell's performance outweighed those supporting it. The blowback was enough for him to post an apology on his Facebook page:
I would like to apologize to everyone who felt offended by the character of my performance on Saturday, 08.10.2019 at Mr. Gay Poland in the Punto Punto Club. The emotions that tormented me after statements by Archbishop Jędraszewski were presented by me in a way that I regret. The doll used in the performance was a metaphor, not for the person of the archbishop, but for the views and statements he has recently expressed. Nevertheless, I understand that the performance took a shape that exceeded the limits of self-expression. I have taken to heart all comments I have received.
Kaczynski agreed with Jędraszewski that the current attempt in Poland to redefine the family is a 'rainbow plague.'
