Justice minister agrees with Lech Walesa on 'gay ideology'

Justice minister Jaroslaw Gowin: photo - PAP/Bartłomiej Zborowski.

“Sexual orientation is a personal matter for every human being. But to try and make this private matter a political struggle under gay slogans and ideology is a totally different issue. I am opposed to this ideology and here I totally agree with former president Lech Walesa,” Jaroslaw Gowin, a leading conservative in the centre-right coalition government, told a meeting of Warsaw University students on Wednesday.

Walesa, a former president of Poland following the fall of communism, caused outrage in Poland and abroad when he said that gay MPs should “sit at the back in parliament or even behind a wall,” adding that a sexual minority should not flaunt itself in front of the majority.

Gay pride marches, for instance, should take place on the outskirts of town, Walesa said.

Many politicians in Poland, even Walesa's own son, Jaroslaw - a member of the European Parliament - distanced themselves from the Solidarity legend's remarks, but Minister Gowin, known for his opposition to civil partnerships and state finding for IVF, appeared to support some of the former president's remarks.

On his opposition to bills, voted down by parliament this year on civil partnerships, Gowin told Warsaw University students: “As Minister of Justice I stand by the Constitution, which clearly states that marriage is a union between man and woman. Therefore, regardless of what I think about homosexuality, I am required to say that all projects discussed in Parliament were unconstitutional.”

Gowin has led opposition to civil partnerships from within his own party, the ruling centre-right Civic Platform, much to the annoyance of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and liberals in the party.

Tusk has demanded that the party agrees a unified stance on the issue after Gowin led several Civic Platform MPs into voting with the opposition to block the bills, which would legalise civil partnerships for unmarried heterosexual as well as homosexual couples. (pg)

source: TVN 24