Gay parade urges legal status law in Poland

Thousands of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and supporters of equal rights for sexual minorities marched in Warsaw yesterday urging Poland's government to give homosexual partnerships legal status.

But they admitted legislation was not on the cards in the strongly Catholic country, where homosexuality is still a social taboo and relatively few people choose to be openly gay.

"We demand a civil partnership law," read a massive banner at the head of the colourful Europride parade, which wound through the Polish capital in sweltering heat close to 40˚C.

"We're hoping to open up a debate on the topic of affording legal status to the partnerships of gay and lesbian couples but we're not optimistic such legislation will be passed anytime soon," Jacek Adler, editor in chief of the www.gaylife.pl Polish gay lifestyle website, told AFP.

Opinion surveys show that 80 per cent of Poles oppose gay marriage and 93 per cent believe gay and lesbian couples should not have the right to adopt children. Two out of three Poles oppose gay demonstrations.

Yesterday's event is the first time the annual Europride parade is being held in an ex-communist state. Last year's, in Zurich, Switzerland, attracted some 50,000 people.

Marchers, some from as far away as Vancouver, Canada, jived along the route to hits by gay icon Kyle Minogue among others, but the parade was a more low-key affair than annual counterparts elsewhere.

"I don't think Poland is as homophobic as some people think it is, but for whatever reasons, people are still uncomfortable with the issue of homosexuality," Ken Coolen, director of Vancouver's gay pride parade told AFP.

"It's the midst of a change here in Poland, where more people are coming out," he said.

"We want to be in solidarity with Polish gay and lesbians and we want also to show the police in Poland that there is no problem to be openly gay in the police," Stockholm policeman Goran Stanton, who also serves as head of the Association of Gay Police of Sweden, told AFP.

About 2,000 police officers, some clad in riot gear, were on hand to provide security against possible counter protests by far right groups.

The march passed on largely unhampered apart from an incident when eggs and bottles were hurled at protesters by some people trying to block the parade. Eight people were detained for attacking police officers, reports said.

Catholic groups opposing homosexuality distributed pamphlets to parade-goers with an image of Jesus Christ saying: 'I have not come to condemn but to redeem'.

They also held prayer vigils at local churches "with the intention of redeeming parade participants".