02/10/11-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
‘I am not a homophobe, but I play one in the legislature’ may be what Robert Wegrzyn of the center-right Civic Platform of Poland is trying to say. Recently, he was asked about his views regarding civic partnerships for lesbians and gays, and he quipped “We can forget about gay men, but I would gladly watch lesbians.”

He went on to say, though, “human nature, human beings are made in such a way that we should live in a partnership according to nature. If somebody wants to live differently, that’s his problem but he should not flaunt it.” Should we ask him to stop flaunting his ignorance since it has been shown that life-long homosexual pairings have been formed in nature.

Wegrzyn’s comments drew criticism from women’s groups, and he issued the standard non-apology apology. Basically, he’s sorry if anyone was offended. Which means he is not actually sorry about what he said. He then went on to claim he is not a homophobe, but he believes that the law should discriminate against anyone who is not heterosexual.

He stated:

“I am sorry if this joke insulted anybody because it really could have sounded sexist. That was not my intention.

“My views on relationships between two people are unchanging and conservative but this does not mean I am a homophobe or discriminate against anybody… I oppose discrimination against anybody on grounds of sexual orientation.”

Actually, by defining marriage in this manner is pushing for bigotry on the grounds of sexual orientation. The head of his party, Tomasz Tomczykiewicz did say that Wegrzyn would have to pay a fine and called the comments ‘silly’ and ‘irresponsible’. While Poland remains devoutly Catholic, Poles are starting to become more liberal about issues such as homosexuality with many of the larger cities having increasingly open LGBT communities. There is now discussion in Poland about allowing lesbians and gays to form legal civic partnerships and recognizing the rights of same-sex couples who marry in other EU countries.