Polish Court Halts Distribution of ‘LGBT-Free Zone’ Stickers

(Bloomberg) -- A Warsaw court issued an injunction to halt the distribution of “LGBT-free zone” stickers by a newspaper sympathetic to the conservative government, Gazeta Wyborcza reported, citing the lawyer of the plaintiff.

The decision came a day after the Gazeta Polska weekly began distributing the stickers and followed the detention of more than 50 people for attacking a gay-pride march in eastern Poland on Sunday. It resulted from a complaint by an LGBT activist who argued his rights had been abused.

The issue of gay rights is dividing Poland ahead of general elections expected in October. The ruling Law & Justice party has warned that the advancement of gay rights poses a “grave danger” to families across Europe, a departure from the European Union’s liberal, multicultural mainstream.

The adhesive stickers have prompted a boycott of Gazeta Polska by several retailers and criticism from the U.S. ambassador to Poland. Deputy Warsaw Mayor Pawel Rabiej also informed prosecutors -- in a move separate from the court challenge -- that the weekly is propagating discriminatory behavior reminiscent of the Nazis, whose World War II invasion killed millions of Poles.

If Gazeta Polska continues to sell its magazine with the stickers, it will risk penalties, according to the preliminary verdict. The court’s spokeswoman, Sylwia Urbanska, didn’t answer calls seeking comment on the decision.

To contact the reporter on this story: Konrad Krasuski in Warsaw at kkrasuski@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Blaise Robinson at brobinson58@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey, Andrea Dudik

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