Queer in Poland: Under Construction

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Gay men appeared in Poland for the first time in 1989, after the fall of Communism; lesbians always were – and still are – ‘just friends’; trans* people are funny freaks in the entertainment business; and queers... but who are they, anyway? This set of clichés probably reflects accurately the general level of understanding about LGBTQ individuals in Polish society and, in some cases, within the Polish LGBTQ community itself. Poland is a relatively homogeneous and largely conservative country. More than 90 per cent of Polish society shares one race, one nationality, one language and one religion. The influential Polish Roman Catholic Church guards conservative values in the social and political life of the Polish population, including a ban on abortion and support for homophobic politicians. But even then we are not all straight and certainly ‘we are not all homophobes’, in the words of one Polish academic, Agnieszka Graff (2006). Who is queer in Poland then? Where are the queers and how queer are they? In this chapter, I attempt to answer these questions by describing how Polish LGBT individuals have acquired their common identity and politicized their status in the public sphere. I then show how some of them have tried to challenge identity discourse under the influence of queer theory, both practically, in the LGBT movements’ politics, and theoretically, at the universities. I am also going to present some recent debates on sex and sexuality in order to outline the general attitude towards human sexuality in Poland and to describe the politics of the groups that are most interested in it, including the Roman Catholic Church, politicians, LGBT activists and queer theorists.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationQueer in Europe
Subtitle of host publicationContemporary Case Studies
EditorsLisa Downing, Robert Gillett
Place of PublicationAldershot
PublisherAshgate Publishing
Chapter11
Pages159-172
Number of pages14
ISBN (Print)9781409404644, 9781409404651
Publication statusPublished - 2011

Publication series

NameQueer Interventions
PublisherAshgate Publishing

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