Polish President Proposes Ban on Child Adoption by Gay Couples
Polish President Proposes Ban on Child Adoption by Gay Couples
(Bloomberg) -- President Andrzej Duda proposed to ban child adoption by same-sex couples, returning to the theme of “protecting” traditional values in confrontation of the LGBT community just six days before an election.
Facing a second-round ballot that opinion polls show is too close to call, the incumbent detailed on Monday plans to introduce a constitutional amendment outlawing such adoption, which is already practically impossible in Poland, by giving it privileged status over regular laws.
Fighting for re-election, Duda took a page from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, which enshrined an effective ban on gay marriage into its constitution via a referendum that also cemented the president’s grip on power.
Duda’s efforts are meant to help him cozy up to far-right voters he needs to defeat Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski in Sunday’s election runoff. The move is largely symbolic since Article 18 of the Polish constitution defines marriage as a “union of a man and a woman” and married couples are preferred in adoption cases over single adults.
“Children must be safe and protected from adoption by same-sex couples,” Duda said. “My proposal is for adoption to be possible only for married couples, not for those in a same-sex partnerships.”
While there’s no explicit ban on gays adopting children in Poland, such decisions are practically unheard of. Multiple publicly funded agencies need to sign off on every case and there is a bias against applications by same-sex couples, which don’t even have the right to form civil partnerships in the country of 38 million.
Much like Putin, Duda and his allied ruling Law & Justice party positioned themselves as the defenders of family values against sinister and often foreign forces seeking to undermine them, including the LGBT movement. Poland ranks last in the 27-country European Union for gay rights, according to international advocacy group ILGA.
Trzaskowski said he’s also against child adoption by gay couples, with his campaign calling the topic a non-existent issue in Polish politics.
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