Incumbent Polish President Andrzej Duda, who is up for reelection, said on Saturday that he aims to add a ban on adoptions by same-sex couples to the Constitution.
“It should be explicitly stated in the Polish Constitution that any person in a homosexual relationship shall be banned from adoption,” Duda said at an election meeting in the southern city of Szczawno-Zdroj.
"To guarantee the safety and a correct education for children, and for the Polish state to safeguard their rights, I think there should be such a provision,” he added.
Duda, a member of the ruling Law and Justice Party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość - PiS, conservative and nationalist), announced that he would sign a draft presidential amendment to the Constitution on Monday and present it in parliament.
The president finished in first place at the first round of the presidential election on Sunday last, and will come up against the liberal candidate, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, at the second round on 12 July.
During his campaign, Duda continually stirred up controversy by doubling down on PiS attacks against LGBTQ+ people and Western values. He compared the “LGBT ideology” to a new form of communism.
On the other hand, Trzaskowski defends gay rights and said he is open to the idea of same-sex partnerships, even if he told journalists on Saturday that he was “against adoptions by same-sex couples.”
“I think that’s the position of most of the political parties,” he said. “On this particular topic, I am in agreement with the president.”
Only 9% of Poles are in favour of adoption rights for same-sex couples, according to a 2019 poll by the CBOS Institute.
The Brussels Times
