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Gay French minister says Polish government threatened to cancel meetings if he visited ‘LGBT free zone’

French Europe Minister Clément Beaune said Thursday that the Polish government had threatened to cancel his official meetings during a trip to the country if he visited a village that has declared itself an "LGBT-ideology free zone".

Published: 11 March 2021 15:36 CET
Gay French minister says Polish government threatened to cancel meetings if he visited 'LGBT free zone'
French Junior Minister for European Affairs Clément Beaune. Photo by BENOIT TESSIER / POOL / AFP

During a two-day trip to Poland this week, Beaune, who is gay, had planned to stop in the village of Krasnik to highlight its anti-LGBT stance.

“They didn’t want me to go there. They didn’t physically prevent me, it was political pressure,” Beaune told France Inter radio.

The Europe minister said he was informed that “if I went there, there wouldn’t be any official meetings during the trip.”

Beaune, who came out publicly as gay in December, has previously called the existence of “LGBT-free zones” in Poland an “absolute scandal” amid a long-running row between the EU and the populist right-wing Polish government.

Beaune decided not to visit Krasnik, but he met gay and women’s rights activists in Warsaw. He held talks with his counterpart in the Polish government, Konrad Szymanski, on Tuesday.

He has vowed to return to the country and travel to one of the anti-gay zones.

“I think it’s serious, but I don’t want to cause a controversy with a government,” Beaune said. “What is very serious is the situation on the ground, not my personal case.”

With support from the government, several regions have declared themselves free from “LGBT ideology” in Poland to protest against support for gay rights from Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, an opposition leader. 

Polish Deputy Foreign Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek said that Beaune had not been prevented from visiting Krasnik.

“No Polish authority forbade or prevented the French minister from visiting Krasnik. These kinds of suggestions are not conducive to the good atmosphere surrounding the visit and to our relationship,” he wrote on Twitter earlier in the week.

“We will clarify this matter with the French embassy.”

Human Rights Watch called the Polish government’s decision to pressure Beaune “shameful”.

Member comments

  2. The EU has human rights and they have chosen not to adhere. Let Poland leave, they are better off with Russia.

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POLITICS

French territory New Caledonia counts the cost of overnight riots

People in New Caledonia's main city Noumea assessed the damage on Tuesday after a night of rioting in the French Pacific territory that saw vehicles and shops torched, and shots fired at security forces.

Published: 14 May 2024 08:08 CEST
French territory New Caledonia counts the cost of overnight riots

Riots erupted on Monday over a constitutional reform that is being debated in the national assembly in Paris, and which aims to expand the electorate in the territory’s provincial elections.

Groups of demonstrators took over several roundabouts and confronted police, who responded with non-lethal rounds, while the territory’s high commissioner said shots had been fired at security forces during the riots.

On Tuesday, the streets of Noumea bore the scars of clashes between the police and rioters with traffic blocked by burnt-out cars and smoking piles of tyres.

“The police station nearby was on fire and a car was too, in front of my house, there was non-stop shouting and explosions, I felt like I was in a war,” said Sylvie, whose family has lived in New Caledonia for several generations.

“We are alone. Who is going to protect us?” she told AFP, asking to be identified only by her first name.

A total of 36 people were arrested and 30 police officers injured, according to authorities, who also announced a night-time curfew on Tuesday and a ban on public gatherings.

No deaths have been reported.

“I can’t talk,” said Joelle Vincent, who owns a supermarket business. “I am disappointed and disgusted.”

The fire brigade recorded nearly 1,500 calls and counted around 200 fires in the overnight unrest.

At least two car dealerships and a bottling factory in the capital Noumea were set on fire in arson attacks, an AFP journalist saw.

‘Side by side’

While the situation appeared more calm in parts of Noumea on Tuesday, there were still clashes in the suburbs, where a supermarket was looted after being rammed during the night.

Many other businesses also bore the marks of attempted break-ins and few shops were open. Long queues were forming in front of the few that are still open.

Hundreds of cars were set on fire, as were more than 30 businesses, shops and factories, according to a group of employers’ representatives.

The group issued an appeal for calm and said nearly 1,000 jobs on the island had been put at risk by the unrest.

The island’s public transport network has also been cut off, with the territory’s flag carrier Aircalin announcing that it was cancelling all its flights for Tuesday.

“I feel sad,” Jean-Franck Jallet, who owns a butcher shop that firefighters managed to rescue from the flames. “I thought it was possible for us (islanders) to live side by side, but it hasn’t worked. There are too many lies.”

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