In 1932 Poland officially passed legislature decriminalising homosexuality. Since then, Poland’s,
ultra-conservative right wing government have utilised traditional Christian beliefs and the rise in
European nationalist populism to oppress its LGBT community. ‘LGBT free’ zones are becoming
increasingly prevalent. In 2019 the leader of Poland’s largest political party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, was
quoted as saying that “the LGBT and gender movement threaten our identity, threaten our nation
[and] threaten the Polish state.” Today, almost one hundred municipalities across one third of Poland
have areas where gender ‘ideologies’ and gay pride marches have been banned citing ‘pro-family’
resolutions. Archbishops openly warn of ‘the rainbow plague’ and the unofficial Polish motto of ‘God,
Honour, Fatherland’ is now considered to exclude people such as myself.
Bio:
Kamil D Jantos is a Polish Documentary Photographer based in Cardiff, United Kingdom. Jantos
practice is based around themes of sexual identity, family and social issues. Jantos studied BA
(Hons) Documentary Photography at University of South Wales in Cardiff.
