Poland to Ban Schools From Discussing Homosexuality

The Polish government is to ban discussions on homosexuality in schools and educational institutions across the country, with teachers facing the sack, fines or imprisonment.

Poland's education minister, Roman Giertych, has said he hopes to introduce a similar ban across the entire EU.

Mr Giertych, the leader of the ultra-conservative League of Polish Families, a junior coalition partner in the government of prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said the aim of the proposed law would be to "prohibit the promotion of homosexuality and other deviance".

Mr Giertych said: "One must limit homosexual propaganda so that children won't have an improper view of family."

The legislation has been fast-tracked and could become law by the end of the month.

Human rights groups have warned that the law would promote discrimination against gays and was in danger of curbing the amount of information children are given about Aids.

The New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the proposal violated freedom of speech.

"Polish authorities claim to be protecting families, but in fact they are trying to deny children free speech and lifesaving information on HIV/Aids," said Scott Long of HRW. "Schools should be training grounds for tolerance, not bastions of repression and discrimination."

President Lech Kaczynski, the twin brother of the prime minister, has given his support to the law, claiming that the future of the human race is dependent on discrediting homosexuality in the classroom.

During a visit to Ireland last month, he said: "If that kind of approach to sexual life were to be promoted on a grand scale, the human race would disappear."

The government's announcement coincides with the presentation of a study by Poland's Campaign Against Homophobia, which shows a significant rise in anti-gay attitudes in Poland. Its study details eye-witness accounts of people who have been beaten, harassed, raped and humiliated because they are gay. The group said it was alarmed by the proposal particularly in the light of the recent attacks.

"I am embarrassed to hear of such a proposal," said Robert Biedron, the group's head. "Poland is like an island drifting away from the rest of Europe ... don't we already know this kind of language from not so distant history?"

During a gay campaign march through Warsaw last year, members of the League of Polish Families youth wing threw stones and bottles at the participants and shouted: "Euthanasia for gays, concentration camps for lesbians."

Radio Maryja, an ultra-nationalist Catholic radio station supported by the government, views the EU as a gay conspiracy and frequently refers in its broadcasts to "homosexual terror" and "sodomitical unions".

The European Commission has condemned the Polish government, whose motto is "moral renewal", for its homophobic views.

During a visit to Poland at the weekend, the EU's current president, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, delivered a thinly veiled warning to Poland's anti-gay politicians, telling an audience that Europe was a "continent of tolerance ... that understands variety not as a threat but as enrichment".