US ambassador marches in Warsaw Pride parade, sending message to NATO ally

Warsaw: The United States ambassador held a US flag high as he marched in the yearly Pride parade in Warsaw on Saturday, a clear message of Washington’s opposition to discrimination in a country where LGBTQ+ people are facing an uphill struggle.

“America embraces equality,” Ambassador Mark Brzezinski said, as he marched with more than 30 other members of the US Embassy and alongsides representatives from Canada, Austria and other Western countries in the Equality Parade.

In recent years Western governments have been alarmed by a conservative government in Warsaw that depicts gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people as threats to the nation and its children.

The participation of the US ambassador sent a clear message to the government of Poland, a NATO member on the alliance’s eastern flank where the United States has increased its military presence since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

Poland has for decades considered Washington its key guarantor of security, but the importance of US protection has only grown with the war playing out across its border in Ukraine.

The US is also seen as a guarantor of protection to the LGBTQ+ community, which a few years ago was fighting for the right of same-sex union or marriage, but recently had been more concerned about a climate of hostility from the government and Catholic Church.

The colourful and joyful parade was a brief moment of celebration and relief for a community that has been criticized by elected leaders as a threat to nation’s traditional Catholic identity.

LGBTQ+ members have been especially worried because of elections this fall. The conservative nationalist ruling party, Law and Justice, has openly criticized the community ahead of past elections, an attempt to mobilize its conservative base.

Brzezinski said that his embassy “has heard disturbing reports of an organized campaign targeting Poland’s LGBTQI+ community with hate, lies, and slander in an attempt to divide Polish society. These attempts to sow divisions only strengthen the hand of those who seek to weaken democracy.”