Gay parade banned in Poland

Warsaw's conservative mayor has vowed to ban an annual gay rights parade for a second year, saying that he is "against propagating gay orientation" in the Polish capital.

Mayor Lech Kaczynski, who is widely seen as a leading contender for Poland's presidency in October elections, said he would block plans by gay rights activists for a march on June 11.

He said it would interfere with plans to unveil a monument that day to Gen Stefan Rowecki, a leader of Poland's anti-Nazi underground army during World War II.

"Organising a gay parade on that day is a joke," Kaczynski was quoted as saying by the news agency PAP. "I am for tolerance, but am against propagating gay orientation."

Tomasz Baczkowski, a leader of Equality Foundation, the group organising the parade, said organisers would try to appeal a ban to regional authorities.

Last June, Kaczynski banned the fourth annual Equality Parade, saying he feared clashes between gay rights groups and opponents who planned a counter-demonstration. Despite the ban, about 500 supporters of gay and lesbian rights rallied in front of city hall, chanting "Homophobe".

A leading member of the center-right Law and Justice party, Kaczynski is widely expected to run in the October 9 election to replace centre-left President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who cannot seek a third term.

Kaczynski has won popularity as mayor for taking a tough stance on crime and promoting efforts to commemorate Warsaw's history - including a museum devoted to the 1944 Warsaw Uprising and a planned museum on the history of Poland's Jews.

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And:

Congratulations! Your hard work has paid off, and your prayers have been answered. The battle has been won…WorldPride 2005 has been postponed until August 2006…but we have NOT won the war!

You can still help us do that so we don’t have to fight this battle again in 2006.
Please get everyone you know to sign this petition today. This is the last email we will send you on this subject. Don’t delay, forward this to everyone on your list today, make copies and take to church with you on Sunday...let’s give this one last push.

I want the municipality of Jerusalem to say, “Go somewhere else in August 2006, 2007, 2008, etc.” You can help us accomplish that today.

Thank you so much; you have made a difference.

Michael D. Evans
The Jerusalem Prayer Team

I am not Jewish, but they are our brothers in faith! And the Holy City MUST NOT BE DESICRATED!

"Are you calling ALL the religious people of Russia "freedom hating scum"???"

Oh please, where did you get it from? I haven't written that, for God's sake!
I pray for all the good people in Russia. Putin and his minions are the communist scum. I'm sure any true Christian in Russia wouldn't care a thing about gays and their preposterous parades. They are only another object of missionary work, nothing more.

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