International Incident aka homophobic Poland Prez | Issue Letters

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Issue 1008
May 20, 2008

International Incident

I am very happy that Brendan Fay and Tom Moulton had the reaction they had to what Lech Kaczynski said, but as a European citizen, I cannot help but wonder about the end of your article. I think writer Neal Broverman is being too optimistic about the state of things in Poland. I really really would have loved for the couple's appearances on Polish TV to have made a difference in the minds of people there, but I think truth is the real difference was the money Europe gives to Poland. You have to remember that up until recently, homosexuality was considered to be a crime in Poland (until 1997 if I remember correctly). What happened to Fay and Moulton doesn't surprise me the least. I am trying very hard as a French citizen and as a lesbian not to be ranting against Poland, but when they made it into Europe I wasn't a happy camper. However, for our community, Europe might make the difference in Poland (and in France, because open-minded as my country might be, we still don't have same-sex marriage). We've a lot to learn from each other, and it's going to be a tough road living together as a union with 27 very different countries. As a French citizen, I feel happy about discovering all those various cultures, but as a lesbian, I am very glad that the economic pressure of depending on European money will put human rights on the forefront of preoccupations in Poland. That said, I am very happy that the Polish parliament finally decided to vote the Lisbon Treaty, getting the EU out of the limbo.

Anne-Caroline Sieffert
Syracuse, N.Y.

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