Grodzka belongs to the socially liberal Palikot's Movement |
Poland's
voters have elected the first transsexual to parliament - Anna Grodzka, an
activist and film producer who says she is ready to push for same-sex civil
unions and state funding for sex change operations.
Poland's
first openly transsexual elected parliamentarian said Monday that she would
fight for equality for sexual minorities and state funding for sex reassignment
surgeries.
Anna
Grodzka was elected on October 9 to represent the city of Krakow as part of Palikot's
Movement, a new socially liberal party led by controversial business tycoon
Janusz Palikot. She has received massive media attention in Poland and abroad,
and has used it to draw attention to the plight of sexual minorities in her
conservative and Catholic country.
"Enough
of this concealing of the truth," 57-year-old Grodzka told the Associated
Press on Monday. "This group of people, even if small, has its rights and
they should be respected. They should not be pushed into oblivion."
Prime Minister Donald Tusk's Civic Platform party will continue governing |
Grodzka, an
activist and film producer, said the time has come for gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender Poles to enjoy the right to legally recognized partnerships,
job security and state funding for sex change operations - her own was
completed in Thailand last year.
Speaking in
an interview with the Polish web portal Gadu-Gadu, Grodzka also said she
planned on introducing a law similar to one passed recently in Australia that
would allow Poles to select "male," "female" or
"other" as their gender on their passports.
Uphill
battle
The
elections last week did not change the government's make-up - the centrist,
pro-market Civic Platform is to continue governing under Prime Minister Donald
Tusk with the support of the small, farm-based Polish People's Party.
But
Palikot's Movement gained 40 seats in the 460-member parliament, making it the
third-largest party after the conservative Law and Justice party - a sign that
the social conservatism espoused by many Poles no longer has the influence it
once did in politics.
Also
elected to parliament was Poland's first openly gay man, activist Robert
Biedron, who called the election a "sign that we are a different society
now, open and tolerant."
Grodzka
said she has received hundreds of friendly gestures from supporters and only
one hostile phone call - evidence, she said, of a growing comfort among Poles
with sexual minorities. Despite her party being a relatively small bloc in
parliament, she said she was ready to represent her constituents when she is
sworn in on November 8.
"I
also will simply be myself, and I will show that unfavorable opinions about me
are unjust," she said.
Author:
Andrew Bowen (AP, dpa)
Editor: Mark Hallam
About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”
"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version) New !
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