Polish LGBT rights activists recreate George Michael video to challenge anti-gay laws
LGBT rights activists are using George Michael’s music to raise awareness of Poland’s anti-LGBT laws.
Jakub Kwiecinski and Dawid Mycek, a gay couple who are popular on YouTube in the country, created the video with the group United Polish LGBT.
George Michael, who died on Christmas Day 2016, was “the greatest gay artist of our time”, the LGBT activists said.
The video aims to raise awareness of the country’s regressive LGBT laws, which some fear are getting more conservative.
Poland is the largest country in the EU to not recognise same-sex unions or marriage.
In 2007 a report by the European Parliament drew attention to the country’s changing attitudes, reporting of an “emerging climate of racist, xenophobic and homophobic intolerance in Poland”.
Jakub and Dawid hope the video will draw the world’s attention to Poland’s regressive rules.
They said: “We felt a huge lost last year when we found out that he passed away.
“He was the greatest gay artist of our time, a real icon.
“But also with his all strengths and weaknesses he was so much real.
“He shared these emotions by his songs. We grew up with it, we fell in love with it and now we can fight with it.”
Among the Polish gay celebrities backing the George Michael video project were dancer and singer Wiktor Korszla, vloggers Piotr Sokolowski and Pawel Dworak, hairdresser Tomasz Bozek, campaigners Marek and Jedrzej Idziak-Sepkowski and drag queens Charlotte Drag Queer and Aldona Relax.
The couple previously received death threats after publishing their coming out video.
However the haters helped make their dreams come true.
The couple has been granted special permission to get married in Madeira, Portugal.
The couple initially had their request to marry in the country rejected.
But after facing the huge homophobia, the local registry office re-considered their documents because they were shocked at the couple’s treatment.
