LGBT+ “Rainbow Friday” takes place in Polish schools with support of authorities for first time

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

The annual “Rainbow Friday” organised in Polish schools to show support for LGBT+ children is taking place today with the support of some state education authorities for the first time.

Previously, under the former ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, the event faced hostility from the government. However, Rainbow Friday is now being organised for the first time under a new, more liberal ruling coalition that has promised to improve LGBT+ rights.

„Tęczowy Piątek” z błogosławieństwem kuratorium oświaty

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— Rzeczpospolita (@rzeczpospolita) October 24, 2024

Rainbow Friday, which was first held in 2016, is today taking place this year under the slogan “Let’s build bridges of diversity”. Children are encouraged to wear rainbow-coloured clothing to schools, some of which are organising special optional classes on issues such as gender identity and sexual orientation.

The lesson plans for children in grades 7 and 8 of primary school (who are aged between 13 and 15), prepared by Sexed, an NGO, offer “tips on how to be a supportive ally” to LGBT+ people, reports the news website Interia.

“We [want to] build an equal and safe school together, so that every child at school feels important, cared for, without any forms of exclusion or discrimination,” said the school superintendent for the Mazovia province, in which Warsaw is located, at the launch of Rainbow Friday, reports the OKO.press news website.

In the Lublin province in Poland’s more conservative east, a spokesman for the school superintended told Interia when asked about Rainbow Friday that they “support all initiatives and actions that develop respect for others, whoever they are”.

 

The school superintendents in each of Poland’s 16 provinces are government appointees. Under the PiS government, they were often key players in the ruling party’s campaign against what it called “LGBT ideology”.

In 2020, the school superintendent in the Łódź province said that young people are threatened by an “LGBT virus is much more dangerous” than COVID-19. He also called “LBGT ideology” a “dictatorship” that “dehumanises young people”. His remarks were defended by the then education minister.

The PiS government also specifically criticised Rainbow Friday, with a deputy prime minister saying that such “indoctrination should not be allowed, especially in schools”. The education ministry discouraged schools from allowing students to take part.

However, PiS was replaced in office last year by a new, more liberal coalition that has pledged to strengthen LGBT+ rights. While it has so far failed to change any laws, it has taken symbolic steps. This year, for the first time, government ministers attended the annual LGBT+ equality parades.

Around 20,000 people attended Warsaw’s LGBT+ Equality Parade – including, for the first time, members of the government.

„We will deliver laws that [make] the state equal for everyone and exclude no one”, deputy prime minister @KGawkowski told the crowd https://t.co/VJ7mcRSOsv

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Rainbow Friday events are being organised today at schools not only in Poland’s more liberal big cities, but also in some smaller towns, such as Chojnice (population 39,000), Wieluń (22,000) and Gryfino (21,000), reports Interia.

Dominik Kuc, the main organiser of Rainbow Friday, told the Rzeczpospolita daily that “everything has changed” under the new government. “Schools are now taking part in this campaign more boldly. No one is afraid anymore, especially since we have the green light from the education authority.”

The event still, however, faces hostility from some right-wing groups, including PiS, whose deputy leader, Mariusz Błaczak, warned today that “leftist indoctrination is entering schools on the shoulders of [Prime Minister Donald] Tusk’s state apparatus”.

Lewacka indoktrynacja wkracza do szkół na ramionach aparatu państwowego Tuska. Tzw. tęczowy piątek zyskał oficjalne wsparcie kuratorium. Do szkół, które uczestniczą w akcji rozesłano gotowe scenariusze lekcji, z których uczniowie mają dowiedzą się m. in. czym jest tożsamość…

— Mariusz Błaszczak (@mblaszczak) October 25, 2024

Ordo Iuris, a prominent conservative NGO, has published a special guide for parents on “How to protect your children from Rainbow Friday”, which it says is part of an “offensive by the LGBT lobby”.

The Centre for Life and Family, another conservative NGO, has launched a rival campaign, “Noble Friday”, that encourages children to “show your friends at school that values opposed to LGBT ideology matter to you”.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Krzysztof Cwik / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.