(Bloomberg) -- As Polish President Andrzej Duda began a second five-year term on Thursday, the country's LGBT community was feeling more vulnerable than ever.
Duda, an ally of the right-wing governing party, narrowly won re-election last month with campaign pledges including a ban on adoptions by gay couples. Since his victory, confirmed this week by the Supreme Court, a ruling-party lawmaker said LGBT ideology stems from the same root as Adolf Hitler's national socialism, and police detained activists who hung rainbow flags from religious monuments in Warsaw. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki compared their acts to the destruction of the capital by Nazi Germany.
“More LGBT people are seeking psychological or medical help to cope with the tension these days,” said Ola Kaczorek, a co-head of the Love Does Not Exclude group. “We're being hounded.”
In a speech to parliament Thursday, Duda called Polish democracy “stronger than ever.” Not everyone in the assembly agreed. Female MPs from an opposition party wore masks in rainbow colors, having earlier protested outside the legislature.
The ruling Law & Justice Party has repeatedly attacked sexual minorities to woo voters in the staunchly Catholic European Union nation. Duda signed a family-values declaration during the election campaign, also vowing to “protect children from LGBT ideology” and prohibit the spread of such ideas by public institutions.
The steps are starting to affect ties with Brussels. The European Commission said last month that it won't provide funding to six Polish towns that declared themselves “LGBT-free zones” -- a move that sparked harsh criticism from the government in Warsaw.
“It's really painful to hear questions about feelings of minorities, while being abroad, I see growing international concern,” said Ryszard Schnepf, a former Polish ambassador to the U.S. “People feel threatened by law enforcement being dictated by political orders. It affects everyone who demands democracy is respected in practice, not just LGBT people.”
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