Kraków Equality March 2020: Thousands of Poles protest against homophobia and demand equal rights

The pandemic is not an ideal context to travel, however, encouraged by a friend and driven by certain nostalgia I decided to fly to Poland for two weeks last month. This visit was a special one precisely due to the context, since so many things have happened to everyone in the last couple of months that I felt there was a lot we could share among friends and family.

I don't normally miss Poland that much. The food is delicious there, the climate in summer is often pleasantly mild and people seem much happier than they mostly appear to be. I'm definitely much more adapted to the life and mindset of people in Barcelona. Compared to Barcelona, Poland always seemed to me extremely materialist, capitalist, conservative and intolerant. However, this time I was very positively surprised by what I saw back in my home country, especially on the 29th of August in Kraków.

On that day I went to the main market square with two friends and we were surprised by an unusual amount of police vans and agents everywhere around the centre. By the time we reached the square we had already noticed groups of young people with rainbow colours and other groups dressed in black and sports clothes, looking more like far-right nationalists or football hooligans. When we heard drums and crowd noise, we understood that there were probably at least two demonstrations held inside the square: An LGTBI one and a right-wing protest against it.

From a few hundred meters we could discern a group of around a hundred nationalists, mostly in black colours. Their banners announced which organisations they represented: "Patriots of Lesser Poland" (The Kraków region), "National Radical Camp" and other far-right groups. Such groups usually deny any connections with fascism or white supremacy, however a closer look at some of the demonstrators revealed the truth: several of them wore face coverings with Celtic crosses, used by neonazis to symbolise white supremacy. The banner in front of them read "Freedom of speech for nationalists", although perhaps it should have explicitly demanded permission to exterminate gays, leftists and immigrants...

Some other banners read "Stop homopropaganda" and "God, honour and homeland". The last one was also what the nationalists shouted several times towards the LGBTI demonstration held less than a hundred meters away. Quite unsurprisingly I could only spot one or two women in the fascist-nationalist demonstration. After all, that kind of far-right, white supremacist ideology is an alpha male thing, nothing to do with empathy, equality, solidarity and other female weaknesses. Get together, get drunk, beat up some weaklings and go back to their caves: That's their favourite sport.

Across the police line facing the far-right protesters the group of pro-LGBTI rights demonstrators was a lot more numerous. I only found out later that this was the official Equality March ("Marsz Równości" in Polish). Some of the demonstrators stood in front of the nationalists showing the rainbow flag. There was also an antifascist flag carried by a young man in his early twenties. Not being able to hold their anger, some of the fascists started shouting homophobic insults and other abuse towards those who came to face them with their flags. Even the nationalists' speaker showed his true colours by saying "The police will disperse and they will be left alone. Things will get interesting". The threats were very clear and unfortunately they have to be taken seriously in Poland today.

Compared to the hatred and anger displayed by the fascists, the Equality March was fun to watch: Lots of mostly young people with rainbow flags, drums playing and a truly wonderful atmosphere. Thousands of people got together to show their support for equal rights and their rejection of homophobia. There The march was a big celebration but also a demonstration of unity and strength by all those citizens who disagree with the discrimination of the LGBTI community in Poland with the consent and encouragement of the Polish government. I was suddenly stricken with a sense of pride and hope. I had been very pessimistic about Poland before but seeing this magnificent display of resistance made me change my mind: Yes, things can change for the better in Poland, and maybe quite soon.

There was yet another event held on the other side of the square, in front of Kraków's emblematic monument, the Saint Mary's Basilica. A group of around thirty people stood there for the whole duration of the Equality March, apparently defending the great church from the demonstrators. Two men held huge Polish flags, others had rosaries in their hands. The group held a banner with a religious message. A few other less numerous groups around the square carried banners associating homosexuality with child abuse and paedophilia. My favourite banner was one that claimed that sex educators teach 4-year old children how to masturbate and 6-year old children how to have an orgasm or something of that sort. Dear homophobes, people are not stupid, please make up a more credible story!

Although I actually think that some people do believe in such ridiculous stories, but surely such a huge lie cannot hold for too long. Just like associating homosexuality with paedophilia - even the less informed people will realise that it's complete nonsense. People should be more worried about the homophobes who create an atmosphere of violent intolerance which leads to bullying and abuse of anyone who stands out. As one speaker at the Equality March rightly said, it's not the government which is protecting Polish children from the LGBTI community, it is the LGBTI community which defends children from facing discrimination and abuse due to sexual orientation or gender.

This was the first time since I left Poland eight years ago that I felt hopeful about the future of the country, in spite of the right wing always winning the elections and a growing number of homophobic and racist attacks in the streets. I feel like there is a resistance to it in the Polish society and this resistance seems to be growing too, although primarily in bigger cities like Poznań, Gdańsk, Kraków and Warsaw. As long as there are people and organisations willing to stand up for justice and equality, things can change for the better

For the paranoid right wing an enemy is essential to its existence. Yesterday it was the refugees and today it's the LGBTI community. If you think you don't need to join the protests, for some random reason you might be the target tomorrow. Today I would take the antifascist and the rainbow flags and participate in another Equality March. Because it's not about being gay, transsexual or "straight", it's about respect and equal rights for all. One banner at the Kraków march summed it up more or less in these words: "Love is always love, hatred is the real deviation". The choice is quite simple