Gay Activists Arrested For Draping Rainbow Flags on Statue of Jesus (POLAND)Also Rainbow Flag is Burn Every time the Home owners Put it Up
Three activists were arrested this week for draping flags over five statues, including one of Jesus carrying the cross and the Mermaid of Warsaw, a centuries-old symbol of the city.
Margo Szutowicz’s lawyer said she could face up to two years in jail for offending people’s religious feelings “by outraging in public an object of religious worship”, as well as a fine or community service for the second crime of profaning a monument.
“My client does not admit to those charges presented to her,” said Maria Radziejowska, adding that Szutowicz was only under investigation as a suspect and had not been charged.
The two other activists are being investigated for profaning a monument, said their lawyer Katarzyna Gajowniczek-Pruszynska.
The Warsaw state prosecutor’s office did not respond to requests to comment and a police spokesman declined to comment.
LGBT+ rights have become increasingly divisive in Poland under the ruling nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS), which President Andrzej Duda has dismissed as a foreign “ideology” undermining Poland’s traditional Catholic values.
Duda, who was elected in 2015, won a second term last month after an acrimonious campaign laced with homophobic language and appeals to religious conservatives, raising fears of further discrimination among LGBT+ Poles.
About 20 pro-LGBT+ lawmakers wore rainbow masks and held up copies of the constitution when Duda was sworn in on Thursday.
The three activists were released on Wednesday and their lawyers are waiting to see whether they will be charged.
“It wasn’t aimed at the Catholics or their rights,” said Madej, 22, one of the arrested members of Stop Bzdurom, or Stop Bullshit, a feminist LGBT+ campaign group.
“We wanted to show there are also queer people in Poland; they are not alone. There are a lot of us and if there are monuments, they are also our monuments.”
Poland is the worst country in the European Union for gay rights, according to a poll this year by the LGBT+ lobby group ILGA-Europe.
Three campaigners arrested in 2019 for posters depicting the Virgin Mary with a rainbow halo are still awaiting trial at home with no date set, their lawyer Radoslaw Baszuk said. Ola Kaczorek, co-president of LGBT+ advocacy group Love Does Not Exclude Association, said she was raising funds for the legal defence of activists.
“It’s just the beginning for us unfortunately,” she said.
{Reporting by Rachel Savage @rachelmsavage; Editing by Katy Migiro. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org}
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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
WAUKESHA - For a local family, a sign-and-flag-burning incident at their village home certainly provided reason enough for angst, drawn out by their feeling the vandalism was generated by hate and politics.
On the other hand, the supportive response from state and local officials, as well as neighbors, gave Robert Thelen, and his father Michael Neuberger, a reason to smile as well, even if the suspected underlying motive continues to bother them.
"I thought I was just lonely and alone in this, but I've been getting good messages," Thelen said in a Facebook message Wednesday, three days after a Wisconsinites for Biden, an LGBTQ pride flag and an American flag were burned at their Genesee Road home near Green Country Road.
According to the family, Thelen's niece noticed something burning in the front yard at about 9:30 p.m. Sunday. When she ran outside and saw the burning sign and flags, she also noticed a car parked nearby with its lights off. The car reportedly sped off after spotting her.
She alerted the rest of the family, who doused the flames. Neuberger contacted the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department, which sent a deputy who agreed it was likely a case of arson.
But was it a hate crime? Authorities weren't sure. But Thelen was more certain.
"I think it was (a) hate crime 'cuz someone started the pride flag on fire," he said. "We felt targeted."
For him, the political element was accentuated by the pushback he got from people after he posted information about the incident on Facebook.
"I'm getting harassing messages from some Trump supporters saying that I'm making this all up just to make them look bad," Thelen said, adding that some comments tried to dismiss the vandals as nothing more than thoughtless "kids.”
If anything good came from the incident, it was how others responded.
Thelen said the sheriff's department delivered a new American flag the next day, courtesy of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The Democratic Party of Waukesha County promised to deliver a new pride flag, along with a replacement political sign. And a Republican Party leader also voiced his sympathy for what the family went through.
"On Tuesday, state Rep. Scott Allen made a surprise visit to our residence to say how horrible this act was," Thelen said.
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