WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — The organized Jewish community participated for the first time in the Warsaw Pride Parade.
Some 100 members of the community took part in the parade on the streets of the capital, surrounded by 47,000 other participants.
The Jewish delegation was organized by Emil Jezowski, a member of the city’s Jewish community. He said it was important that the community support “the fight against hatred that spilled over non-heteronormative people in Poland in recent months.”
Gay couples’ right to marriage and adoption was a topic of discussion in Poland before the recent European Parliament elections. The country’s ruling Law and Justice Party is against granting gay couples in Poland those rights.
The mayor of Warsaw, Rafal Trzaskowski, attended this year’s parade for the first time. Trzaskowski is associated with the opposition Platforma Obywatelska party.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the
terms
Participants in Warsaw’s Pride Parade, June 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
In the parade’s Jewish contingent, the Israeli flag, Jewish Pride flags, and a rainbow chuppah, or wedding canopy, all made appearances.
According to Jezowski, the parade was attended by people “of varying degrees of religious observance.” There also were many sympathizers and friends of the Jewish-LGBT community.
“I am glad that the response was so big and the atmosphere was family-like,” Jezowski told JTA.
It's not (only) about you.
Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.
Sure, we'll remove all ads from your page and you'll unlock access to some excellent Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.
Join the Times of Israel Community
Join our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You appreciate professional journalism
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, during an ongoing war when facts are often distorted and news coverage of Israel often lacks context.
Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.
So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you'll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this