Participants from the 3rd World Conference on gay and lesbian culture journeyed to the former concentration camp Auschwitz to present the Orfeus Iris, a statuette of a prone man by Danish gay sculptor Lars Dynes, to the Vice-director of Auschwitz Memorial Camp, Maria Oleksy. The award made in front of TV cameras was in recognition of the fact that although few gays were incarcerated in Auschwitz where millions including Poles, Jews, Sinti & Roma - were murdered, homosexuals were not ignored or forgotten in the permanent exhibition.

The author was interviewed in Auschwitz and asked if the award was not "an insult to the Polish people", since most Poles are anti-homosexual.

The Polish Zjednoczenie Chrzescijansko-Narodowe (National Christian Union) chose to use the award as part of the campaign for the presidential elections by arguing the award was an insult to the Polish people.  They demanded answers to the questions

1. are you for gay marriages?
2. are you for adoption possibility for gay marriages?
3 are you for artificial insemination for lesbian marriages?
4 are you for teaching in school on homosexuals?

.... from all the candidates for the election.

They have been using word "marriage" everywhere - to frighten the good Catholics.

President Kwasniewski hasn’t made a statement, but his minister answered that gays and lesbians are citizens like everybody and they deserve the same rights as other. This statement is considered a step forward.

In 1999, the ILGCN awarded Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial Site the Orfeus Iris award as recognition of the use of gay culture in ceremonies to honour the gay victims, and generally for its recognition of the prisoners with a pink triangle.

The 3rd World Conference on gay and lesbian culture initiated by the International Lesbian and Gay Culture Network (ILGCN) ended July 16th after a week of seminars, performances by artists from Poland, Sweden, Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine. Seminar topics ranged from the films of Bruce la Bruce, Paul Lee and Jurgen Bruning, to amnesty international and also homophobia.

The Prostitution Plays written by John Roman Baker were also warmly received. The plays without sentimentality and with a dark sense of humour, acted by the Aputheatre (Amsterdam), explore the lives of four young men from different Eastern European cultures living and working illegally as prostitutes in Amsterdam, give an insight into their experiences of life in "freedom city".

In the seminar on amnesty international Colin de la Motte-Sherman spoke about the origins and structure of the organisation since these make the methods and scope of the organisation of ai easier to understand.

Founded in London, where the International Secretariat is situated, each section (country-wide association) is legally independent. and basic decisions for the world-wide organisation are taken at the International Council Meeting held every two years. In 1991 it was decided to regard homosexuals who were solely imprisoned for consensual acts in private as prisoners of conscience.

The basic principles of amnesty are  political neutrality; no money is accepted from governments; well-founded research into cases, and to be accepted as a prisoner of conscience, the person must not have used violence or called for its use. However, even for people who have advocated or used violence, amnesty demands a fair trial.

I spoke about the activities of the LGBT Group within the German Section, Urgent Actions and some of the successes, as well as the newly founded network of LGBT groups within amnesty.

The president of Poland’s amnesty international addressed the final session, along with a representative of the Heinrich -Boell-Foundation.

A final statement, adopted by the conference:

The participants of the 3^rd World Conference on Gay and Lesbian Culture held in Warsaw, Poland, wishes to express its thanks to the organisers and to all sponsors and people who have worked to make the conference possible.

The success of the conference has helped to build bridges and develop contacts between citizens of Central and Eastern Europe and citizens of countries which are already in the European Union. Seminars and cultural events have given a great chance to share experiences between participants of the conference. We would like to mention that the democratic changes which were started in 1989 thanks to the positive attitude among others, of the Catholic Church made it possible in the long run to hold the conference in Warsaw.

We want to thank all those people, organisations and institutions that helped to start the democratic changes in Eastern and Central European countries. As Poland and other countries move towards entering the European Union, we hope that the expansion will lead people to learn to respect the human rights of all minorities, including sexual ones.”

 

August 2000