LGBT groups criticize Trump for hosting Polish president Andrzej Duda today after he claimed 'threat from LGBT ideology is greater than Communism' ahead of elections
President Trump has been criticized ahead of hosting Polish president Andrzej Duda today by LGBT and human rights groups because of Duda's anti-LGBT views and rhetoric.
Duda has claimed that the 'threat from LGBT ideology greater than Communism', and has vowed to 'protect' Polish families from what he calls 'LGBT ideology' during his on-going reelection campaign in the country.
Trump is being accused of sending a message of support to those looking to discriminate against LGBT people and other minorities by hosting Poland's president at the White House days before his visitor faces a tougher than expected fight for reelection.
Trump is scheduled to meet Duda today, four days before the first round of Poland's presidential election. The visit, announced last week after Trump said he planned to remove thousands of U.S. troops from Germany, is expected to include discussions on defense and economic issues.
It is believed that some of the American troops could be transferred to Poland, a NATO member on the alliance's eastern flank. Poland is one of Europe's most enthusiastically pro-American countries and the visit could give Duda a boost as he seeks a second 5-year term.
Pictured: US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Polish President Andrzej Duda during a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 23, 2019. Polish President Andrzej Duda will be hoping for a pre-election windfall from a trip to Washington on June 24, 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Poland's President Andrzej Duda, leave at the end of a joint press conference, in Warsaw, Poland. Trump and Duda will meet at the White House on June 24, four days ahead of a presidential election in Poland in which Duda, a conservative, is seeking reelection
Public television in Poland, which is controlled by the ruling Law and Justice ruling party that backs Duda, has pushed a similar message about the LGBT rights movement, which many conservatives in mostly Catholic Poland see as a foreign import and a threat to their culture.
The populist Law and Justice embraced the same messages critical of the LGBT rights movement before the parliamentary election it won last year. Several municipalities in Poland have declared themselves 'LGBT free.'
Public television has also been using anti-Semitic tropes in a series of reports meant to undermine Duda's main presidential rival, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.
'We are concerned that the White House visit is sending a signal of political support for a candidate whose campaign has engaged in homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric,' said Zselyke Csaky, research director for Europe and Eurasia at Freedom House. a U.S.-based organization.
'The scapegoating of minority groups is a dangerous strategy and should be condemned, not supported by the president of the United States.'
The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT rights advocacy group in Washington, also criticized Duda visiting the White House so close to Sunday's election.
It said Duda's use of anti-LGBT rhetoric is 'vile, manipulative and dangerous,' and that Trump was showing he is 'no friend' to the gay rights community.
U.S. Congressman Eliot Engel, a Democrat who is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called Trump's invitation to Duda an example of Trump´s 'infatuation with leaders who have demonstrated autocratic tendencies.'
'President Duda and his party promote horrifying homophobic and anti-LGBTQ stereotypes and policies that run counter to the human rights and values that America should strive to uphold,' Eliot said in a statement last week.
On June 13, during a campaign rally, Duda said 'LGBT is not people, it's an ideology', accusing the LGBT movement of advancing ideas that are more dangerous than communism.
He told supporters that his parent's generation did not struggle tofight against communism to now accept 'an ideology' that he thinks 'is even more destructive to the human being', according to Euronews.
Duda went on to say that during Poland's communist era, which lasted over four decades, the regimes survived by indoctrinating young people, saying 'That was Bolshevism. It was the ideologizing of children.
'Today, there are also attempts to push an ideology on us and our children, but different. It’s totally new, but it is also neo-Bolshevism.'
Earlier that week, Duda signed a declaration, drafted for the stated purpose of helping families in Poland, but that included language relating to 'protecting children from LGBT ideology' along with a ban on 'propagating LGBT ideology in public institutions.'
Pictured: LGBT activists protest outside the Warsaw's town hall in Warsaw, Poland on March 18, 2019, as parents of primary and secondary school pupils protested against the new 12-point LGBT rights declaration signed by the then-new Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski
In June, Donald Trump ordered the military to remove 9,500 troops from Germany, a move likely to raise concerns in Europe about the U.S. commitment to the continent.
The move would reduce U.S. troops numbers in Germany to 25,000, from the 34,500 currently there, with the 9,500 troops being sent elsewhere, some to Poland, some to other allied countries, while some would return home.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said after the announcement he hoped that some of the U.S. troops that are set to be removed from Germany will be reassigned to Poland.
'I deeply hope that as a result of the many talks that we had ... part of the troops based today in Germany which are being removed by the United States ... will indeed come to Poland,' Morawiecki told private radio RMF24. 'The decision is now on the U.S. side.'
It is expected that Trump and Duda will discuss the possibility of U.S. troops being sent to Poland during their White House meeting today.
Pictured: Polish President Andrzej Duda waves to supporters as he campaigns for a second term in Serock, Poland on Wednesday, June 17, 2020, Duda is the front runner ahead of the election on Sunday, June 28, but polls show him unlikely to achieve the majority needed to win outright
Duda is the front-runner in a field of 11 candidates, but his support has been falling lately as the coronavirus pandemic has hit Poland's economy.
Polls predict he will win about 40% of the votes, below a 50% threshold for outright victory. That would trigger a runoff on July 12, which is likely to pit him against Trzaskowski, who has been gaining in popularity. Polls show them tied for support in a second round.
One of Duda's challengers in the presidential race, non-aligned Szymon Holownia said Duda must see his visit to Washington as a potential 'game changer' in the race if he is suspending campaigning to go there during the crucial week before the election.
He said he saw it as nothing more than a 'propaganda event.'
Before taking off for Washington from Krakow on Tuesday, Duda said his fifth meeting with Trump would focus on 'fundamental' issues such as Poland´s military and energy security, telecommunications and cyber-security and economic cooperation.
Duda, who is seeking a second 5-year term as president, pointed to Microsoft´s announcement last month of a planned $1 billion investment for a data processing center in Poland as an example of growing cooperation in the IT sector.
Much of Trzaskowski's support comes from Poles angry at a government they blame for corruption, inciting homophobia and xenophobia, and undermining the country´s democratic foundations.
'I will vote for any candidate who is against Duda, and at this moment Trzaskowski has the best chance of beating him,' said Pawel Bednarczyk, a 40-year-old carpenter in Bialystok waiting to hear Trzaskowski speak in the town a day after Duda's visit.
Pictured: Mayor of Warsaw and the presidential candidate of the main Polish opposition party Civic Platform (PO) Rafal Trzaskowski attends election rally in Urszulin, Poland June 23, 2020
Supporters of presidential candidate Rafal Trzaskowski gather in front of Polish Television headquarters before the candidates debate held for the upcoming elections, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, June 17, 2020
LGBT activists say they feel dehumanized by Duda's rhetoric and have held street demonstrations. One took place hours before Duda's speech in Bialystok, where people gathered with signs saying 'Love is Love' and 'I am a person.'
Ewa Miastkowska, the mother of a gay son, said the anti-LGBT language of Duda and other conservative politicians has provoked distress and fear for gay and lesbian Poles and their families.
'They refer to Christian values and family values,' she said. 'But in fact, everything they do is contrary to Christianity and the defense of the family.'
The conservative party´s supporters praise Duda for standing against an increasingly visible gay rights movement. They say democracy is healthy and support the government's argument that it is reforming the courts and cleaning up ingrained corruption.
'He is a Catholic, a Christian, he follows the faith, he follows the church,' said Zenon Perkowski, a Duda supporter in Bialystok.
LGBT groups criticize Trump for hosting Polish president Andrzej Duda today after he claimed 'threat from LGBT ideology is greater than Communism' ahead of elections
![LGBT groups criticize Trump for hosting Polish president Andrzej Duda today after he claimed 'threat from LGBT ideology is greater than Communism' ahead of elections]()
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