During the last session of the Bolesławiec County Council, chairman Maciej Małkowski — known for his attachment to “traditional values” and an equally traditional sense of humor — once again showed off his eloquence. When flowers were being presented and thanks expressed after the vote on granting discharge to the county executive board, the chairman, who came from the Impuls Miasta movement, once opposed to the mayor and the starosta, could not refrain from commenting:
“When one man gives flowers to another man, it must be a holiday,” Maciej Małkowski joked, then proposed a break: “So that we could also kiss the starosta.”
For some, it was a joke; for others, another indication that not all local-government officials have matured enough to hold public office in the 21st century. Still others point to Małkowski’s changing views — before the election, as a candidate of Impuls Lokalny, he was known as an opponent of Mayor Piotr Roman and Starosta Tomasz Gabrysiak.
In the recording available on the Bolesławiec County website, the words about kissing the starosta have been cut out.
It should be added that in 2015, in response to the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage, the chairman of the County Council decided to carry out an ideological purge among his Facebook friends. He wrote at the time:
“Facebook introduced the option of covering one’s profile picture with a rainbow color, thereby expressing support for the legalization of homosexual marriage. The next demand of LGBT communities is the adoption of children by such marriages, and that arouses my firm opposition. Therefore (…) I will have to say goodbye (…) to friends promoting behaviors that I absolutely do not tolerate.”
Almost ten years have passed since then, but as can be seen — some people do not change their views on the rights of others. They do, however, change their political views depending on the office they hold.