A Catholic archbishop in Poland has claimed that a “rainbow plague” is afflicting the country, after a rise in anti-LGBT sentiment.
Archbishop of Krakow Marek Jedraszewski made the claim in a sermon at St. Mary’s Basilica on Thursday (August 1), according to Poland’s TVN24.
He said: “Our land is no longer affected by the red plague, which does not mean that there is no new one that wants to control our souls, hearts and minds.
“Not Marxist, Bolshevik, but born of the same spirit, neo-Marxist. Not red, but rainbow.”
Baskets containing a sampling of Easter food are brought outside Mariacki Basilica in Krakow are blessed on Holy Saturday by the Archbishop of Krakow, Marek Jedraszewski.
The Catholic Church in Poland has strong ties to the ruling nationalist Law and Justice Party, which has been accused of stoking a backlash against LGBT+ rights in recent months.
The anti-LGBT backlash spilled out into violence in July, when extremists launched a violent attack on a Pride event in Biaĺystok.
25 people were detained by police after the parade was set upon by a mob, who pelted the LGBT+ campaigners with rocks, glass bottles and firecrackers.
Amnesty International later accused police of failing to “provide adequate protection for the participants” and alleged that officers had “failed to respond to instances of violence.”
Meanwhile, a right-wing magazine in the country distributed ‘LGBT-free zone’ stickers across Poland.
The Warsaw District Court has ordered Gazeta Polskamagazine to cease distributing the controversial stickers, who argued that stickers violate rights by “creating a sense of threat and discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.”
Gazeta Polska editor-in-chief Tomasz Sakiewicz vowed not to back down, branding the ruling “the greatest act of censorship in the history of the Third Polish Republic.”
In April, Law and Justice chairman Jaroslaw Kaczynski declared LGBT+ people a “threat” to the country and an “attack on the family and children.”
He claimed: “We are dealing with a direct attack on the family and children—the sexualization of children, that entire LBGT movement, gender.
“This is imported, but they today actually threaten our identity, our nation, its continuation and therefore the Polish state.”