Poland's Trans Citizens Fear They'll Become Target of the Right

advocate.com:

With support for gays and lesbians on the rise in Poland, the country’s transgender citizens fear they'll be a major target of the right wing ahead of next year’s parliamentary election.

The same day in June that Warsaw held its Pride celebration, the chair of the conservative Law and Justice party, Jarosław Kaczyński, met with voters in the nearby town of Włocławek to voice his disdain for trans people, The Guardian reports.“We have elementary knowledge in biology, we know that gender is determined at the level of chromosomes. … In extreme cases, an operation must be performed, but this does not mean that after this operation a man will be a woman and a woman will be a man,” he said.He taunted the crowd, making a point to look at his watch, saying, “It’s now half past 5; before I was a man but now I’m a woman.”Kaczyński has touched on the subject several times since, poking fun at name changes and calling trans people “abnormal.” He also insulted Poland’s first trans member of Parliament, Anna Grodzka.The Polish government has attacked the LGBTQ+ community on several past occasions, with the country’s president, Andrzej Duda, running a successful reelection campaign two years ago based on anti-queer rhetoric.

He is a member of Law and Justice.Recently, polls have shown growing acceptance for gay people in Polish society, which trans activists believe will make them the next target for the party.