Poland’s leader rejects West views on transgender issues

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s conservative ruling party leader pushed back Sunday against what he described as Western views on LGBTQ rights.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of the Law and Justice party, described a theoretical situation in which a person named Wladyslaw, which is traditionally a male name, comes to work asking to be called Zosia, a traditionally female name.

“And according to what we are recommended from the West that everyone should obey it,” Kaczynski said at a rally in Grudziadz, a city in northern Poland. “We do not intend to look into anyone’s bedroom, but at the same time we want to maintain normality.”

His party has in recent years used anti-LGBTQ rhetoric ahead of elections. Kaczynski is preparing to lead the party into elections next year.

His remarks on Sunday repeated an idea he broached with a different group of voters a day earlier, saying it was time to return to “some rules of decency” and “normal language.”

On Saturday Ukraine’s main pride event, KyivPride, took place in conjunction with Warsaw’s Equality Parade, drawing tens of thousands of people.

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