US ambassador says Poland is on the ‘wrong side of history’ with LGBT+ rights. Meanwhile, Trump tells Proud Boys to ‘stand by’
Georgette Mosbacher, Ambassador of the US to Poland. (Attila Husejnow/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
US ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher slammed Poland for being on the “wrong side of history” when it comes to LGBT+ rights.
But, you know, maybe she should make sure her own house is in order, while she’s at it.
In an interview with portal wp.pl, Mosbacher defended the open letter she and 49 of her fellow ambassadors signed pleading for Polish government leaders to protect LGBT+ citizens.
In an incredible display of global unity, the letter was signed by envoys from India, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Ireland, Finland, Japan, Malta, Spain, New Zealand, Venezuela, Australia, Israel, Sweden, the UK and the US, among many other countries.
Mosbacher said that the US “stands firm for the equality of all peoples”, the outlet said. Activists, however, may dispute this – Donald Trump’s presidency has been one arguably defined by vicious rollbacks of trans rights and vastly hollow pledges.
Indeed, her interview came as Trump sparred with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, in which Trump failed to condemn white supremacists and military groups. He simply demurred and then said: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”
Proud Boys is a homophobic, transphobic, racist far-right fringe group which has endorsed violence in the wake of Black Lives Matter – it has, on several occasions, been linked to incidents of brutality.
Georgette Mosbacher: ‘Human rights are not an ideology.’ Poland thinks otherwise.
Mosbacher lit into the so-called “LGBT-free zones” that pockmark Poland. Officials and community leaders in around 100 municipalities – or roughly one-third of the country – have vowed to expunge their localities of LGBT+ “ideology”.
“Human rights are not an ideology,” Mosbacher said, “they are universal. You must know that in terms of LGBT+ rights you are on the wrong side of history.”
“Sometimes symbols say more than deeds or words,” she added, referring to how the zones are not “real” and lack legal standing. They are, in fact, local resolutions tacked onto the Family Charter that simply pledges to stonewall LGBT+ “ideologies”.
“I know that this is not entirely fair, but through such ‘symbols’ Poland has acquired the image of a state that does not respect people of different sexual orientation,” she said, adding that when it comes to human rights, there are no “compromises”.
But compromise appears to be in the playbook of Trump, who has see-sawed throughout his leadership when it comes to LGBT+ rights. His administration has eroded trans rights in many federal departments, from banning trans troops in the US military to imposing a rollback on trans healthcare.
Supporters hold up an LGBT+ Pride flag for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. (George Frey/Getty Images)
Moreover, during many of this year’s victories in the arena of LGBT+ rights as well as years’ worth of Pride months, Trump has remained silent or vastly indifferent.
And when the president has been pressed about certain LGBT+ issues, such as the federal blood ban on queer men as well as his own campaign for the global decriminalisation of homosexuality, he has been utterly clueless.
All have come to be expected from the Trump administration, activists say. Trump officials, as well as his loyal allies, at the times, use the president’s apparent support for LGBT+ rights a balm of sorts to soothe rank-and-file Republican lawmakers and voters.
Nevertheless, the Republican Party announced that it would be leaving its 2016 party platform unchanged, meaning that the GOP will continue to officially support the reversal of marriage equality.
