Poland celebrated their first pride parade Saturday July 20th, and it was not met by rainbows and kisses. As a matter of fact, a wave of counter protests showed up which lead to riots, tear gas, and some injuries. At the moment no deaths have been reported.
Though Poland is rarely in the spotlight for - anything - it has been trending in the news for a polish magazine's decision to print "LGBT- FREE ZONE" stickers. Gazeta Polska, is a far right magazine who is known for being anti-gay and anti-immigrant. These stickers would be distributed to readers/businesses who wanted to insure no queers would look for business from them.
Some polish have compared it to Germany's censorship of Jews. The deputy of Warshaw, Pavis Rajeb, said " The Germans created zones free of Jews" and said he would be filing a complaint with the prosecutor's office.
Despite the hate of both the stickers and the counter-protests, the pride month can be seen in the video to continue on with singing, a giant rainbow and an armed escort. The counter-protesters were viewed as more of a "disruption" to not give the haters any more credit than they deserve.
The officers themselves did the work to protect the parade and it came to a happy, shaken and memorable end. So #gayes what do we think of Poland's first Pride Parade? Watch the video below.