Homosexualism in Poland
In Poland, it is legal for anyone aged 15 or above to have relationship with the person of the same sex without the consent of the guardian. Even though same sex marriages are not legal in Poland, homosexuality is widely accepted in the society, compared to India, where we think of it as an unnatural phenomenon.
There are clubs meant especially for gay people and parties, where they can meet with each other and form relationships.
Even though homosexuality is accepted to a greater extent in Poland, there is a tendency to treat homosexual people as second grade citizens compared to heterosexual people. Many times big muscular men are found to call people who they hate as pedał (offensive term used to describe gay men). Even if the other person is not homosexual, the word pedał has turned out to be the word of choice to call a person You are angry with.
People have the impression that gay men and women are only interested in meeting each other for non obligatory sex, and that they would go to bars to pick up a partner for a one night stand. Even i was forced to believe that gay people are not able to form normal relationships based on emotion and trust. Little did i know about Homosexuality to understand it back then. Now after living some years in Poland, i have come to understand that homosexual people are just like heterosexual people, and can form relationships based on emotions and trust.
Recently i saw a social experiment where a group of people checked the tolerance of society to homosexuality in various parts of the world. A crew would film two men holding each others hand, and would walk down a busy part of the town in a big metropolitan city. In countries like Spain, Portugal, France etc, people couldn’t care less if two men where holding hands or not. They were too busy or just didn’t think it was something disturbing to comment or for them to stare at.
Whereas in countries like Russia, very often it was met with aggression and hate. I was surprised to know that it was not just men who bumped into these couples, or started picking up fights with them. Even women were angry that two men are walking holding hands, and that too in the middle of the street? ‘’How dare they?’’
Once i saw two foreign men holding hands and walking down the market square in Wrocław, Poland. Nobody gave them any special attention. From what i hear, its not possible for Polish men to hold hands and walk down the street like that. They could be beaten by other men. (I am afraid t could be true, because Polish men are not very tolerant when it comes to homosexual people) But in big cities like Warsaw, and krakow homo sexual couple have much more freedom and have more chances of surviving than in a smaller city anywhere in Poland.