Polish leader accused of gay marriage slur
Artykuły
- Szczegóły
- Nadrzędna kategoria: Guardian
- Kategoria: Polityka i obyczaje
Polish leader accused of gay marriage slur
- Ryan Lucas, Associated Press
- The Guardian,
- Thursday March 20 2008
An American man said yesterday that he has filed a complaint against the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, for using images of him and his partner in a national speech to warn against gay marriage.
A video clip of Brendan Fay's wedding with his partner, Tom Moulton, was used in Kaczynski's televised address to the nation on Monday. The video, along with a photo of the couple's marriage certificate, was shown as the president warned against adopting the EU's new treaty and its charter of fundamental rights, which Kaczynski says could open the door to same-sex marriage in Poland.
"An article of the charter, due to no clear definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman, may go against the universally accepted moral order in Poland and force our country to introduce an institution in conflict with the moral convictions of the decided majority of our country," Kaczynski said, as the images flashed across the screen.
Fay, a documentary filmmaker who was born in Ireland but is now a New York resident, said he submitted his complaint to the Polish consulate in New York on Tuesday. "Our images clearly were being used in a campaign by the president of Poland against lesbian and gay persons, and fostering intolerance and fear among the people of Poland," he said.
There is little support for same-sex marriage in Poland, a deeply Catholic country which joined the EU in 2004. The Polish constitution states that marriage is only between a man and a woman.
As mayor of Warsaw, Kaczynski refused parade permits for gay rights marches, while his twin brother, the former prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has said: "It's not in the interest of any society to increase the number of homosexuals."
address - przemówienie
charter – karta; statut
conviction - przekonanie
file a complaint – składać zażalenie
flash – przemykać, pojawiać się na krótką chwilę (na ekranie)
foster – rozwijać, sprzyjać
mayor – burmistrz, prezydent miasta
permit - zezwolenie
slur - oszczerstwo
submit - przedkładać
