Tomasz Sekielski denies that his film targets homosexuals

Sharp comments following the screening of the Sekielski brothers’ film appeared on the websites of LGBT organizations and individuals.

“The Sekielski brothers gave us a bitter present on the eve of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia,” Replika wrote. “The Sekielski film is undoubtedly a blow to the Church. But at the same time, it strengthens it, as it provides an opportunity to spread and fuel prejudices that the Church can exploit for its own benefit,” they wrote on Miłość nie wyklucza. LGBT activist Bart Staszewski offered the harshest comment: “Sekielski brothers, remove this homophobic vomit from your film!”

We asked Tomasz Sekielski about these comments. In a live interview for istotne.pl, the director of “Zabawa w chowanego” denied that anyone in his film equates homosexuality with pedophilia.

“The entire controversy results from an overinterpretation. None of the commentators who are so strongly disliked by LGBT activists says that pedophilia is homosexuality, or that homosexuality equals pedophilia. The issue is the concealment of the phenomenon and why this conspiracy of silence functions so well in the Church. One element of this conspiracy of silence is precisely the fact that an informal structure operates within the Church, in which sexual preferences are the connecting link,” he explained in the interview, Tomasz Sekielski. “Martel writes about this in the book ‘Sodoma.’ I understand that Martel, as an openly gay man, can say more; he can write about the homolobby and the lavender mafia,” the director added with a hint of irony.

I want to say this clearly: neither my brother nor I, and nor does this film, put forward the claim that homosexuality equals pedophilia or that the clergy responsible for sexual crimes against minors are clergy with homosexual preferences.

Tomasz Sekielski

Sekielski believes that the entire controversy surrounding two minutes of the film results from an overinterpretation. In his view, the film does not attempt to prove that the problem of pedophilia in the Church is connected with homosexuality. “The fact that pedophilia is hidden and covered up, and that a conspiracy of silence still surrounds it, while for years this wall of silence was very thick and difficult to break through, is connected, among other things, with the functioning of the so-called lavender mafia—I say among other things, not exclusively, but among other things—within which the secret is guarded for the sake of self-interest, mutual blackmail, compromising material, and so on,” Tomasz Sekielski added.