The Rainbow Does Not Offend: A Conversation with Acquitted Women Accused of Offending Religious Feelings

We spoke with activists Joanna Gzyra-Iskandar and Anna Prus during the trial on January 14, when they faced up to two years in prison. In an interview, Joanna and Anna, accused of offending religious feelings, described what the court proceedings looked like; they began on January 13, 2021, in Płock. The prosecution demanded a sentence of six months’ restriction of liberty in the form of community service.

We will speak with the two activists on March 18 at 6:00 p.m. in a live interview. The verdict issued on March 2, 2021, states that the activists did not commit a crime because their actions were not intentional. The verdict is not final. The reasoning and the verdict themselves prompted enthusiastic reactions from human rights organizations on the one hand, while on the other they were unfavorably commented on by bishops from Płock and Kaja Godek, the auxiliary prosecutor. How do the activists acquitted of offending religious feelings respond to the verdict and its reasoning? You can hear them in a live interview on March 18 at 6:00 p.m.

The activists’ statements

Joanna Gzyra-Iskandar:

• From the very beginning of the trial, we had the impression that this was not about religious feelings, but homophobic feelings.
• At the trial, people used words about LGBT that I would rather not quote—monstrous, appalling, fascist.
• A priest at the trial compared the rainbow flag to a swastika.
• Fundamentalism is intensifying in Poland. We are entering a stage of danger for minority groups.
• The most important thing is to become more sensitive and respond to what is happening.
• At this point, it is easy to use the state apparatus to prosecute activists—the charge is offending religious feelings.
• The provision was intended to protect minorities’ feelings. Practice shows that it is usually the majority that feels offended.
• Attaching a rainbow flag becomes an offense against religious feelings.
• After what we have been through, we are not afraid of an appeal.
• The prosecution, Ordo Iuris, and Kaja Godek have announced appeals.
• We feel supported; thousands of people stand behind us.

Anna Prus:

• In my closing statement, I said that we must have constructive anger within us.
• My actions were an expression of concern.
• The bishops of the Catholic Church are not aligned with human rights.
• I was reminded of a knife attack from behind. The victim was a man who was walking hand in hand with another man.
• We like to think of ourselves as a nation in which everyone saved Jews. The situation is similar now.
• We are dealing with enormous hypersensitivity on the part of the Catholic Church.
• One of the women, a parishioner who tore down the posters, did not know what they meant.

The trial of three activists in Płock was widely discussed by human rights organizations. Appeals and petitions were published by Amnesty International, Freemuse, Front Line Defenders, Human Rights Watch, ILGA-Europe, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, and the Campaign Against Homophobia. Polish media reported on the case after police searched one of the activists’ apartments, that of Elżbieta Podleśna, early in the morning in May 2019 to find the stickers, and then took her to a prison in Płock. The court awarded Elżbieta Podleśna compensation for unjustified detention.