In September 2023, the mayor of Gromadka municipality, while seeking European Funds for Lower Silesia financing for a bicycle path, signed a statement under threat of criminal liability declaring that no discriminatory local laws enacted by the local government were in force in the municipality. At that time, however, a 2019 resolution was still in force, having been pushed through by the then head of the municipal council Krzysztof Król.
Let us recall that in 2019, the Gromadka Municipal Council adopted resolution XV/112/19 on the Local Government Charter of Family Rights (SKPR). We wrote about it in the article “Will Christmas Nativity Plays Be Banned in Gromadka Municipality?”. And we warned:
This potentially discriminatory resolution requires close attention. Under the guise of such political and ideological regulations, projects supporting families in need and people who are together to support one another—but whose relationships do not fit Ordo Iuris’s dogma of the family—could be blocked in the future. Religious fundamentalists are creating tools not to serve people’s welfare, but to gain political power.
From the outset, Gromadka residents fought to repeal the SKPR resolution because they were concerned about the overly narrow interpretation of regulations concerning domestic violence set out in the resolution, as well as the possibility that the municipality could lose grants from European and Norwegian funds. They were also troubled by the municipality’s inclusion on the Atlas of Hate and the homophobic message of the SKPR.
“The Charter is a twisted document,” Halina Gniewek, a member of Wolna Gromadka, said in an interview with istotne.pl. “It targets various people. We wrote to the Voivode asking for the resolution to be repealed. The Voivode replied that he did not intend to repeal the resolution of the Gromadka Municipal Council. It is an unusual situation in which people are encouraged to structure their lives in a particular way. People are diverse, and that is a value. The Constitution does not say that relationships other than those between a woman and a man may not exist. Marriage should be available to every person who wishes to enter into it,” the activist added at the time.
Krzysztof Król had no intention of withdrawing the resolution that embarrassed the municipality. In addition, the municipality filed a defamation lawsuit against the Atlas of Hate organization after it created a map marking local governments that had adopted anti-LGBT resolutions and Local Government Charters of Family Rights.
Król brewed the beer, Kawka has to drink it
From 2019 until today, Krzysztof Król defended the resolution that embarrassed the municipality. Meanwhile, in 2024, the Bolesławiec prosecutor’s office opened an investigation and summoned Mayor Ryszard Kawka for questioning.
“The prosecutor’s office summoned me to an initial meeting concerning an alleged exceeding of my powers,” the mayor Ryszard Kawka explains. “As mayor, by signing documents concerning the bicycle path, I would allegedly have broken the law and certified falsely that no regulations discriminating against other social groups were in force in Gromadka municipality. First, the resolution was not published in the Official Journal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, so it is not an act of local law. Second, to the best of my knowledge and understanding of the regulations, I did not break the law, because I relied on information from the Commissioner for Human Rights, who publishes on his website a list of municipalities that have discriminatory resolutions against other social groups. These are the facts. The risk is significant. They could go back three years, five... Because we received financial resources from the European Union. I do not know how this will end,” the mayor added in an interview with the istotne.pl website.
At the most recent, June session of the Gromadka municipal council, the resolution was repealed by a majority vote, which was also reported to the prosecutor’s office. However, as we know, the law does not operate retroactively.
“Political correctness and the desire to have a quiet life—and, unfortunately, a lack of knowledge about the SKPR—won,” comments councilor Krzysztof Król. “If the mayor had not withdrawn the case against the Atlas of Hate, there would be no report to the prosecutor’s office today. No state body has challenged the SKPR. The Commissioner for Human Rights appealed to all local governments that had adopted discriminatory resolutions, but did not ask Gromadka Municipality to repeal the SKPR,” the councilor adds.
The municipal mayor strongly denies this interpretation of the case by the councilor.
“This is an incorrect interpretation presented by Mr. Król. A civil court would not decide the SKPR case. I would like to remind you that at the beginning of my term, in autumn 2022, I withdrew the lawsuit against the Atlas of Hate,” explains Ryszard Kawka. “The former mayor and Krzysztof Król took the Atlas of Hate to court for including Gromadka municipality on its map. When I took office, I decided to withdraw the case because I believed it made no sense for the municipality to fight internet users and activists. I was harshly criticized for it. At the last session, I told my opponents that I had defended the municipality, not the resolution. I defended it for those for whom the municipality is most important. And I will do everything I can to protect it from unnecessary costs.
How did the councilors vote?
Those who voted to repeal the Charter of Family Rights resolution were:
- Alina Bednarek
- Emil Bociek
- Piotr Fuczko
- Grażyna Kawka
- Adam Kozioł
- Renata Kuczyńska
- Tomasz Kwiatkowski
- Józef Liszcz
- Krzysztof Malina
- Robert Piechocki
- Agnieszka Sasiela
- Władysław Turecki
Those who voted against repealing the resolution inspired by Ordo Iuris activities were:
- Marianna Drozdek
- Krzysztof Król
- Andrzej Peter
It must be emphasized that withdrawing the lawsuit against the activists from the Atlas of Hate was a very good decision by Mayor Ryszard Kawka. Atlas of Hate activists have prevailed in court against Ordo Iuris and homophobic local governments. In the reasoning of one judgment, the court emphasized that under the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights, criticism of public authorities fully includes statements that offend, shock and disturb, because these are the requirements of a pluralistic society.
By withdrawing the lawsuit, the mayor protected Gromadka municipality from a highly likely defeat in court.
The resolution defended by Krzysztof Król uses many general and unclear formulations, creating a risk of abuse in the process of interpreting and applying it, including:
- the resolution allows unlawful differentiation in organizations’ access to funding for their activities (this area is regulated by the Act on Public Benefit Activity and Volunteering); the resolution suggests a narrow interpretation of regulations concerning domestic violence;
- the resolution interprets the word “family” too narrowly, as a relationship between a man and a woman confirmed by a marriage certificate, openly discriminating 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 bonds, and usually also on blood ties.