WARSAW, Poland (ChurchMilitant.com) - Poland's president is fielding attacks from LGBT forces for his pro-family platform as he seeks re-election, yet the majority of his countrymen support his views, a new survey finds.
President Andrzej Duda has been called "ragingly homophobic," hypocritical, and his pro-family positions are being likened to those of Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust as he negotiates the campaign trail.
Polish celebrities such as 40-year-old, Polish actress Katarzyna Zielińska have gotten in on the act of attacking Duda as well. Disassociating herself from Duda, Zielińska said, "This is not my president," echoing the sentiments expressed by leftist actresses in the United States about President Trump, adding she is "ashamed" of him.
Yet, the poll of more than a thousand Poles, conducted by the Do Rzeczy media outlet on June 10, shows that President Duda and his pro-family platform are supported by a majority of Poles, despite the full-court press of attacks.
Only 22% of the respondents supported the legalization of same-sex "marriage" in Poland while 62% said they did not.
A majority of respondents also did not favor same-sex civil partnerships, with 37% being for and 48% against.
Just 10% of respondents backed legalizing the adoption of children by homosexual couples, with 79% of Poles opposed to it.
The poll results come amid attacks leveled against the 48-year-old Duda after he signed a pledge — described as "brutal" by opponents — in which he promised to protect traditional family values and specifically to protect Polish children from LGBT ideology.
The president pledged to defend the institution of marriage, insisting it must remain between a woman and a man and made it clear he would support neither same-sex "marriage" nor the adoption of children by same-sex couples.
While speaking out against the comprehensive sex education program the United Nations (U.N.) and World Health Organization (WHO) are piping into Polish schools, Duda further promised to ban LGBT ideology in public institutions and in schools.
Duda said, "Parents are responsible for the sexual education of their children. It is not possible for any institutions to interfere in the way parents raise their children."
Pointing to powerful outside LGBT forces interfering with his re-election and seeking to transform the substance of traditional Poland, he said, "It's a foreign ideology. There is no consent for this phenomenon to happen in our country in any way."
He affirmed the lived experience of many Poles old enough to remember the Soviet occupation and who now experience attempts by LGBT operatives to take over their towns and the Catholic Church which stands in their way. Gay ideology is worse than communism, he said.
His words echoed those of Krakow's Abp. Marek Jędraszewski, who in a homily marking the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising in 2019, compared the current "rainbow plague" of LGBT activism to the "red plague" of communist domination of Poland after WWII.
The election is boiling down to a showdown between Duda, representing the PiS Party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, meaning Law and Justice) and Warsaw's liberal, pro-Europe mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, member of the Civic Platform party. Trzaskowski was put forth by forces hoping to topple Duda — and conservative Poland, sometimes called Europe's last Catholic bastion.
Duda's pro-family platform markedly contrasts with Trzaskowski's full-on support of the LGBT agenda, including the LGBT+ Charter and the comprehensive sex education program driven by the U.N. and WHO.
The LGBT+ Charter advocates "that places of learning should recognize and value diversity and support both staff and students/pupils to come out." The sex education program, which Trzaskowski supports, touts the "sexual rights of children" and recommends children age four and under be given information about "early childhood masturbation" and the "right to explore gender identities."
Church Militant previously reported on how Trzaskowski's signing of the LGBT+ Charter last year prompted cities and municipalities throughout Poland to declare themselves pro-family and "free from LGBT ideology." In reaction to the declarations, LGBT activists published an "Atlas of Hate" targeting pro-family towns and attempting to stigmatize them.
Poland carries the distinction of ranking as "the worst country in the European Union for LGBT people," according to the annual "Rainbow Map" produced by ILGA-Europe, a non-governmental organization (NGO) located in Brussels that fights for the rights of LGBT people and promotes the dream of a "rainbow Europe."
The Polish elections take place on June 28.