“After 1.5 years of hate speech, a presidential campaign full of dehumanizing words and actions from President Duda, and the events on Krakowskie Przedmieście Street, our community needs psychological support and, as it turns out, legal support too. But it also needs community and a reminder that this is our home,”
says Anna Tereszko from the Queer May Association, organizer of the Krakow Equality March, which this year exceptionally took place in Krakow’s Main Square.
Let us recall that originally, the Krakow Equality March was to take place on May 23, but in March, its organizers, the Queer May Association, decided to postpone the event due to the COVID-19 epidemic. This does not mean that nothing happened on that day – Queer May organized Poland’s first online queer festival, and on May 23, it invited Internet users to “flood” social media with memories of Krakow’s Equality Marches.
This year, many LGBT demonstrations, including the Warsaw Pride Parade, have been canceled or postponed until September. Queer May therefore decided not to hold a march and instead invited people to a demonstration in the Main Square, where it is easier to maintain social distancing and thus safety. Anna Tereszko, a member of the Association’s board and a doctor, emphasizes that “In the current epidemiological situation, it was not an easy decision for us, but we know that the community is looking forward to this event, because we have been hearing such voices for several weeks. After 1.5 years of hate speech, a presidential campaign full of dehumanizing words and initiatives from President Duda, and the events in Krakowskie Przedmieście, our community needs psychological support and, as it turned out, legal support as well. But it also needs community and a reminder that this is our home.” Tereszko adds that “Of course, we made every effort to ensure that the March was safe, that participants kept their distance and wore masks. The organization was supplied with a stock of masks and disinfectants. We encouraged only healthy people to participate, while those with any worrying symptoms or living with such people were asked to stay at home and participate online.”
“This year’s March was unique because, after the events of recent weeks, we appeared in Krakow’s Main Square to shout and dance our disagreement with discrimination, violence, exclusion, dehumanization by politicians, rewarding homophobia, and depreciating our experiences,” says Magda Dropek, adding that “2020 is the year of the coronavirus pandemic, but also of the virus of hatred towards a group of citizens, a group that wants to live peacefully in Poland, that wants to add equal rights to its equal obligations towards the state, which we have been reminding people of in Krakow for 16 years during our march.”
The Equality March took place in the Market Square on the side of the Town Hall Tower on August 29 at 5 p.m. What happened? “We have already accustomed the residents of Krakow to the fact that our events have a special musical setting, and Saturday was no different,” says Julia Noniewicz from the association. “Although this year we invited people to a stationary event, there was also a march element, i.e., a walk around the Market Square with our large flag. We wanted the participants of the Krakow March 2020 to remember it as a joyful, colorful, and dance-filled event, despite the recent atmosphere of hatred and fear,” summarizes Noniewicz.
Photos from the Equality March can be found here.
Queer May was made possible thanks to donations from individuals. You can also help us with a donation. Donate here!
This year’s March would not have been possible without your support and the support of donors to the Campaign Against Homophobia as part of the “President’s Fund.”