In 2019, the Gromadka Municipal Council adopted a resolution on the Local Government Family Rights Charter (SKPR). We wrote about this in the article Will staging Nativity plays be banned in Gromadka municipality? The family model promoted by the Ordo Iuris Institute is a married couple with a child. Among those who signed the demand were Mohawir Domański and Halina Gniewek from Gromadka.

“We oppose this Charter, which harms families,” says Halina Gniewek, who signed the demand. “As we wrote in our letter to the council: a family is any lasting relationship between two or more people based on emotional and legal ties, and usually also blood ties. And when you read what the councillors adopted, it makes your blood boil,” adds the Gromadka resident.

Gromadka still appears on the map of the Atlas of Hate, where activists placed all municipalities that adopted Local Government Family Rights Charters.

The councillors from Nowogrodziec acted differently and rejected the Charter because, like the residents of Gromadka, they cared about the well-being of all families in the municipality, not only typical ones. Who presented the Charter proposal in Nowogrodziec? It was Mayor Robert Relich. However, the resolution was not adopted. Four councillors voted in favour and eight against.

Gromadka residents are also concerned about the overly narrow interpretation of regulations concerning domestic violence set out in the resolution, as well as the possibility of the municipality being deprived of funding from European and Norwegian funds.

Below is the text of the residents’ letter to the Gromadka Municipal Council.

We, the undersigned residents of Gromadka municipality, demand that appropriate action be taken to repeal Resolution No. XV/112/19
of 27 November 2019, the Local Government Family Rights Charter.

Justification:

The resolution uses many general and unclear expressions, creating a risk of abuse in the process of interpreting and applying it, including

  • unlawfully differentiating organisations’ access to funding for their activities (this area is regulated by the Act of 24 April 2003 on Public Benefit Activity and Volunteerism; consolidated text – Journal of Laws of 2019, item 688)
  • the resolution suggests a narrow interpretation of regulations concerning domestic violence
  • the resolution defines the meaning of the word “family” too narrowly, as a relationship between a man and a woman confirmed by a marriage certificate, which openly discriminates against families that do not meet this condition – in judicial decisions and legal scholarship, a family is any lasting relationship between two or more people based on emotional and legal ties, and usually also blood ties
  • the resolution may deprive our municipality of funding from European and Norwegian funds

We kindly ask you to inform us of the date on which our application will be considered.

For information:

Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights
Member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland Robert Obaz
Member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland Krzysztof Śmiszek
Women’s Congress in Brussels