Gay man complains about Polish wedding propaganda
An American gay man has spoken of his dismay that video of his same-sex wedding was used in a TV address by the President of Poland attacking gay rights.
President Lech Kaczynski’s speech to the nation on Monday night used heavy-handed tactics to warn of the dangers of the Lisbon treaty.
Over footage of Brendan Fay’s wedding with his partner Tom Moulton the President, a notorious homophobe, claimed the Lisbon treaty would “affect the accepted moral order in Poland.”
Poland wants the EU treaty to include a preamble safeguarding the right of member states to opt out of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
They have refused to sign up to the charter because of fears that it will clear the way for gay and lesbian marriage equality in Poland.
The charter is legally binding on EU institutions such as the European Court of Justice as part of the new Reform Treaty agreed by the EU heads of government in Lisbon.
Mr Moulton and Mr Fay married in Ontario, Canada, in 2003. The couple also had a religious marriage ceremony in a New York Episcopal Church.
Mr Fay, whose first reaction to the use of his wedding video was shock and surprise, has made a formal complaint to the Polish Consulate in New York.
“I started getting translations of the phrase the President used as the image appeared,” he told the International Herald Tribune.
“My reaction was just really… I thought, ‘oh my God, what an insult’ … Tom and I are just a couple, like any other couple around the world.
“Our images clearly were being used in a campaign by the president of Poland against lesbian and gay persons, and fostering intolerance and fear among the people of Poland.”
