On 17-21 November, the Days of Equality and Tolerance are held in Poznan. The culminating point of the event is going to be the Equality March planned for 20 November. The City Mayor issued the permit to organise the march, however, the right wing local government activists are protesting, claiming that the march is an “endorsement of homosexuality”. (17-11-04)
Similar controversies accompanied two other events of a similar character organised in Poland this year. People throwing stones and bottles confronted the participants of a Tolerance March, which took place, in spite of the right wing groups´ protests, in Cracow on 6 May. The Mayor of Warsaw called off the Equality Parade, which was going to be held in Warsaw on 11 June 2004, because according to him it would offend the public morals. Poznan is the third Polish city, where such an event has been planned, and just like in the two previous cases, it has aroused many controversies.
The Days of Equality and Tolerance will be devoted to the problems of minorities and discrimination in a wide perspective. One of the main parts of the programme is the conference entitled: “Democracy in Poland and the Problems of the Minorities”. It will be concerned with the situation of people from different minority groups (e.g. national, ethnic, sexual, or people with disabilities) and discrimination that they encounter.
Nevertheless, the Poznan local councilors from the Law and Justice Party claim that the Days of Equality and Tolerance, and especially the March, will be endorsing homosexuality, as well as pedophilia, zoophilia or necrophilia.
The Mayor of Poznan has stated that despite the controversies around the March he will uphold the permit.
